(CBC) Plaintiffs challenging Quebec’s ban on religious symbols sought to dismantle, on Tuesday, one of the main arguments made by supporters of the law — that the hijab is a symbol of female oppression and undermines gender equality.
The Laicity Act, which was passed last year amid widespread controversy, bars public teachers, and some other civil servants, from wearing religious symbols at work.
Civil rights groups and educational organizations are jointly arguing before Quebec Superior Court that the law singles out Muslim women in particular, and is unconstitutional.
Bouchera Chelbi, an elementary school teacher in Montreal who wears the hijab and is one of the plaintiffs in the case, testified Tuesday that her headscarf doesn’t foist a particular worldview on her students.
