(Middle East Eye) Hate crimes against Muslims in Canada were down 50 percent in 2018 compared to the year before, a new report by Statistics Canada has said. But a national advocacy group has warned about an uptick in hate incidents targeting religious institutions. […]
(CBC) The Canadian wing of an international Jewish organization wants Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to send government lawyers to join the legal fight against Quebec’s secularism law. B’nai Brith Canada published an open letter Thursday after a Quebec Superior Court justice denied […]
(CBC) A Quebec Superior Court justice has rejected a request to temporarily suspend parts of the province’s new religious symbols law, though he did agree it raises “serious” constitutional questions. Justice Michel Yergeau said Thursday the court must defer, at this stage, […]
(CBC) The Quebec government can’t “with a straight face” claim its new religious symbols law won’t have any harmful effects, a lawyer for two civil rights groups told a Superior Court justice Tuesday. Catherine McKenzie made the comment as she asked the […]
(CBC) Quebec’s religious symbols law was not yet 12 hours old when it became the subject of a Superior Court motion seeking to have it struck down. On Tuesday, the motion, filed last month by the National Council of Canadian Muslims and […]
(CBC) A Victoria councillor has tabled a motion that will ask the city to support a legal challenge of a Quebec law that bans employees from wearing religious symbols at work. The motion from Sharmarke Dubow asks that the City of Victoria […]
(Canadian Press) Quebec’s education minister is being accused of hypocrisy after tweeting a picture of himself with Nobel Prize-winning human rights activist Malala Yousafzai. Jean-Francois Roberge met Yousafzai while in France, and said on Twitter that they discussed education and international development. […]
(CBC) Quebec Premier François Legault says he doesn’t “really” believe Muslim women in the province who say they’ve been the target of Islamophobic incidents since the government passed a law making it illegal for some civil servants to wear religious symbols. Several Muslim […]
(Canadian Press) Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister says he will be seeking a joint response to Quebec’s new religious symbols law when western premiers meet on Thursday in Edmonton. “That is, certainly to my mind, dangerous and un-Canadian and deserves to be opposed,” Pallister said in […]
(CBC) Quebec’s federation of school boards (FCSQ) says it intends on obeying the province’s new secularism law when classes resume in September. The move comes after the province’s largest school board, the Commission scolaire de Montréal (CSDM), said it would not enforce the […]
(CBC) An Ontario police force will launch a recruiting campaign targeting Quebec residents affected by the province’s new law on religious symbols. The Peel Regional Police, which covers territory including the cities of Mississauga and Brampton, will conduct a campaign in Quebec after a motion was passed unanimously […]
(CBC) Lisa Starr’s job is to find internships for prospective teachers. Her task for next fall just got more complicated, now that Quebec’s ban on religious symbols has been passed into law. “I think there’s a lot of confusion and a lot of […]
(CBC) The Commission Scolaire de Montréal voted unanimously Wednesday to delay the application of Quebec’s religious symbols law until a proper consultation process with its internal groups can be carried out. The consultations could last until the fall of 2020, the CSDM said […]
(Toronto Sun) On Sunday night after a marathon session, Quebec legislators voted 73-35 to bring into law Premier François Legault’s Bill 21 that bans some public servants from wearing religious symbols. Legault’s Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government, which also had the backing […]
(CBC) Quebec Premier François Legault had a blunt message Tuesday for minorities worried about his government’s new religious symbols law: the legislation, he said, “could have gone further.” The law, which was passed late Sunday, bars civil servants in positions of authority — including public school teachers, […]
(CBC) Quebec’s new law on religious symbols has been on the books for less than 24 hours, but already opposition is being mounted on several fronts, both in the courts and on the streets. The law was rammed through the legislature late Sunday […]
(CBC) Quebec’s opposition is warning last-minute changes to the Coalition Avenir Québec’s religious symbols law open the door to the establishment of “secularism police.” In the final hours before Bill 21 was passed late Sunday, the CAQ introduced several amendments, including provisions to ensure the […]
(CBC) Quebec’s majority government has pushed through a controversial piece of legislation that will bar public-school teachers, government lawyers, judges and police officers from wearing religious symbols while at work. The bill, introduced by the Coalition Avenir Québec government, passed after a marathon weekend of deliberations […]
(CBC) Opposition parties are accusing Quebec’s Legault government of trying to run the National Assembly like a business, as they attempt to extend the debate of its two flagship Bills 9 and 21. Members of the National Assembly are sitting this weekend […]
(CBC) Quebec Premier François Legault says there’s a risk of upsetting “social cohesion” in the province if the debate over religious symbols is allowed to linger any longer. Legault will invoke closure to pass his government’s controversial secularism and immigration bills, putting an end […]
(CBC) The Coalition Avenir Québec government will invoke closure this weekend to force passage of two controversial pieces of legislation — one that reforms the province’s immigration system and another that bars civil servants in positions of authority from wearing religious symbols. The centre-right party […]
(CBC) The Quebec government is offering a first concession to critics of its proposed law restricting religious symbols worn by some civil servants. Tuesday afternoon, Immigration Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette tabled the amendment which would define what a religious symbol is. The amendment seeks to define a religious symbol […]
(CBC) Several dozen people stood in the pouring rain outside Quebec’s National Assembly on Tuesday to tell the Coalition Avenir Québec that they will continue to fight against the party’s proposed ban on religious symbols in the civil service, even if Bill 21 is passed at […]
(CBC) The secularism debate in Quebec has been going on for more than a decade, and much has been made of the importance of keeping religious symbols out of the workplace. A new documentary, The Trial 2.0, focuses on the impact of the 2013 […]
(Global News) The halal breakfast option is some combination of fruit and cereal with a muffin, toast and peanut butter, boiled eggs or French toast, depending on the day. That’s according to the Correctional Service of Canada’s national menu, but Jason Cain […]
(CBC) Over the weekend, police in Quebec City opened an investigation into a possible hate crime outside a suburban mosque, the same mosque where, in 2017, a white nationalist killed six people. The incident, which allegedly involved a man shouting racist comments […]
(Canadian Press) While most Canadians firmly back the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and strongly support the idea of diversity, a new poll suggests a third of Canadians would ban their elected officials from wearing religious symbols. A majority of Quebecers canvassed […]
(Global News) Stereotypes around religion, ethnicity and race can have damaging effects on people, yet some Canadians still believe these harmful tropes. A recent poll conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs on behalf of Global News found that three in 10 Canadians believe […]
(CBC) High-ranking human rights monitors with the United Nations are concerned the Quebec government will violate fundamental freedoms if it moves ahead with legislation to limit where religious symbols can be worn. Three UN legal experts, known as rapporteurs, signed and sent […]
(Global News) More than a quarter of Canadians believe that over the past five years, it’s become “more acceptable” to be prejudiced against Muslims, according to an exclusive poll by Ipsos for Global News. The polling seems to correlate with an increase […]
(CBC) On the final day of legislative hearings into a bill that will dictate who can wear religious symbols in Quebec, a young black woman wearing a hijab had a blunt message for the provincial government. “I have the intention of breaking this glass […]
(CBC) An organization representing all nine of Quebec’s English school boards says the province’s proposed ban on religious symbols can’t be imposed on them, potentially opening a new front in the legal resistance to the legislation. Like some of their French counterparts, English schools boards […]
(CBC) The mayor of Quebec’s biggest city accused the provincial government on Tuesday of rushing ahead with a controversial proposal to restrict religious symbols without considering the harm it will cause Montreal’s diverse population. At a legislative hearing in Quebec City, Valérie Plante said the […]
(CBC) City councillors have voted down a motion that would have urged Montreal police to allow officers to wear religious symbols on the job. Councillors voted Tuesday 32-19 against the motion, debated on the same day Mayor Valérie Plante testified at Quebec’s Bill […]
(CBC) There has been a sharp increase in harassment directed at Muslim women in Quebec since the province tabled draft legislation to ban religious symbols in parts of the civil service, according to a women’s advocacy group. Justice Femme, a Montreal organization that […]
(CBC) For the second time this week, the Quebec government has been forced to distance itself from a supporter of its secularism bill who made incendiary remarks about Islam at a legislative hearing. The bill proposes barring some civil servants — including public […]
(CBC) It wasn’t until late on the second day of hearings into Quebec’s secularism bill that lawmakers heard from someone who wears one of the religious symbols targeted by the legislation. But by the time Samira Laouni wrapped up her testimony, the committee was […]
(CBC) After spending all day hearing from defenders of his secularism bill, Quebec Immigration Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette was confronted Tuesday evening with a challenge from a wispy-haired, 87-year-old philosopher. “We are still waiting for an explanation about why this is necessary,” Charles Taylor told Jolin-Barrette at legislative hearing […]
(CBC) Legislative hearings into Quebec’s controversial secularism bill began Tuesday amid concerns that religious groups have largely been excluded from the process. Premier François Legault remains insistent that Bill 21, which was tabled in late March, will be passed before the National […]
(CBC) Racha Cheaib, a particle physicist, often helps organize an annual event at a Muslim community centre in Montreal to celebrate girls who decide to wear the hijab. Last year, far-right groups sought to disrupt the event, and twice succeeded in getting […]
(CTV) Hundreds of Montrealers linked arms to form a human chain around the Palais de Justice on Sunday to express opposition to Bill 21, days before hearings about the legislation take place. Canadian Council of Muslim Women spokesperson Shaheen Ashraf was among […]
(CTV) A pro-Bill 21 rally was held in downtown Montreal Saturday afternoon. Hundreds of people — many of them donning patriotic gear and waving Quebec flags — gathered on de Maisonneuve Boulevard, not far from Papineau Avenue. “La Vague Bleue” — the […]
(CTV) Police forces are refusing to participate in public consultations on Bill 21, which aims to prohibit the wearing of religious symbols by many civil servants. On Monday, the secretary of the Committee on Institutions, Carolyne Paquette, confirmed that the Quebec Bar […]
(CBC) Quebec’s largest school board has come out against the province’s plan to ban teachers from wearing religious symbols in the classroom, saying it runs contrary to the school board’s mission and would be difficult to enforce. The Commission scolaire de Montréal (CSDM) outlined […]
(CBC) Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante has been the target of an escalating series of violent threats, apparently sparked by her staunch opposition to the provincial government’s secularism bill. Plante spoke publicly last month about receiving hateful comments after she first criticized Bill […]
(CBC) The minister responsible for Quebec’s proposed secularism law says there will be no exemption for Montreal, a day after city council unanimously denounced Bill 21. Immigration Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette said he welcomes the City of Montreal’s input as hearings begin on the […]
(CBC) Montreal city councillors have unanimously adopted a declaration against the Quebec government’s secularism bill, put forward by the mayor and leader of the opposition. The bipartisan declaration, signed by Mayor Valérie Plante and Ensemble Montréal interim leader Lionel Perez, presents a […]
(CBC) Montrealers took to the streets to protest Quebec’s proposed religious neutrality bill at two separate rallies on Sunday, in Côte Saint-Luc and in downtown Montreal. If adopted, Bill 21 would prevent public employees — including teachers, police officers and judges — […]
(CBC) Ameni Ben Ammar lays out a spread of Tunisian hospitality on the coffee table of her small apartment in downtown Montreal. Traditional pastries, a homemade cheese chicken pie and Tunisian wine. Despite having left six years ago, the bond with her […]
(CBC) Hampstead Mayor William Steinberg is facing growing pressure to apologize for saying Quebec’s proposed religious symbol ban amounts to “ethnic cleansing.” But instead of apologizing, on Tuesday he opted to clarify his comments, referring to the ban’s effect as a “peaceful ethnic cleansing.” […]
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