(Canadian Press) If the Parti Québécois (PQ) forms the next Quebec government, it pledges to ban “ostentatious” religious symbols for elementary school students. The PQ consulted its members in recent weeks to find out whether they agreed with this proposal; 90 per […]
(Global News) Quebec’s announced move to ban prayer in public spaces is being condemned by civil liberties advocates, while legal experts say it could further test the limits of the notwithstanding clause in Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Secularism Minister Jean-François […]
(CTV) Quebec plans to introduce legislation to ban prayers in public spaces in the fall, but one Muslim group says they feel targeted. The head of the National Council of Canadian Muslims says the ban is concerning. “The idea that somehow prayer […]
(National Post) With Quebec promising on Thursday to ban “street prayers,” the province’s minister of laicity has avoided mention of any particular faith. Jean-François Roberge issued a Thursday statement referencing only a “proliferation of street prayers” in Quebec. Roberge added that it […]
(Canadian Press) The Quebec government says it is planning to ban prayer in public places as part of a move to strengthen secularism in the province. The announcement makes good on an idea first mentioned last winter by Premier François Legault, who […]
(CityNews) The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) is questioning the legitimacy of a Quebec committee report that proposes, among other things, that the province extend its religious symbols ban to daycare workers. “What we’re really looking at is recommendations from the […]
(Canadian Press) The Quebec government should phase out public funding of religious private schools and extend the religious symbols ban to daycare workers, says a committee tasked with advising the province on how to strengthen secularism. A nearly 300-page report published Tuesday […]
(Montreal Gazette) A record number of interveners have been granted status in the Supreme Court of Canada case challenging Quebec’s secularism law, known as Bill 21. Last week, the country’s top court approved 38 interveners or groups of interveners — a record […]
(CBC) Quebec Education Minister Bernard Drainville says he will table a bill in the coming days to strengthen secularism in Quebec schools. Drainville made the announcement in a video posted on his X account. Premier François Legault shared the minister’s post and […]
(Canadian Press) The Quebec government has announced a new committee to make recommendations on how to strengthen secularism in the province, including by possibly restricting public prayer. Amid a flurry of concern over religious practices emerging in Quebec public schools, Secularism Minister […]
(CTV) The federal government is officially intervening in the appeal of Quebec’s religious symbols law at Canada’s highest court. The attorney general of Canada filed a notice with the Supreme Court about its intention to “intervene, to file a factum, and to […]
(CBC) With the Supreme Court agreeing to hear a challenge against Quebec’s controversial secularism law, Bill 21, Mark Carney and Chrystia Freeland, presumed front-runners to replace Justin Trudeau, say they encourage the prime minister to follow through on his word to have […]
(Canadian Press) The Supreme Court of Canada’s decision to hear a challenge of Quebec’s secularism law sets up a final legal battle between the provincial government and minority and civil rights groups — and possibly a showdown between Quebec and Ottawa. The […]
(CBC) After the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government tabled its secularism bill, Premier François Legault recorded a video address that intended to reassure people who felt the proposed legislation was going too far. “I feel like saying ‘finally,’” the premier said in […]
(Montreal Gazette) Premier François Legault has responded to the federal immigration minister’s accusations that he is picking on Muslims by saying he will defend Quebec values. And Legault in turn has accused Miller of confusing Muslims with radical Islam. “I will defend […]
(Canadian Press) Quebec’s Catholic bishops have come out against Premier François Legault’s desire to end prayer in public places, saying it would violate people’s constitutional rights. Martin Laliberté, president of the assembly of Catholic bishops of Quebec, says he was “stunned” by […]
(CBC) Quebec Premier François Legault said Friday afternoon that he wants to ban praying in public and that he was considering using the notwithstanding clause to do so. The premier was giving an overview of the past year in Quebec City before […]
(Montreal Gazette) Following up on complaints sparked by allegations of incidents at the Bedford elementary school, Quebec’s Education Ministry is sending inspectors into 17 schools to verify them for possible violations of laicity rules. The schools to be inspected are in the […]
(CBC) High school students at one of the four Montreal schools under investigation by Quebec’s Education Ministry for alleged toxic behaviour among staff say their teacher referenced wanting to hit them last week. The students’ account is one of the few specific incidents […]
(CBC) In the last few weeks, an elementary school in Montreal’s west-central Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood has been mired in controversy. This past weekend, 11 teachers were suspended for allegedly creating a toxic environment for students and staff that goes back to 2016. On […]
(Montreal Gazette) Saying she fears for her safety and that of her family, St-Laurent MNA Marwah Rizqy has asked for police protection. Rizqy was repeatedly insulted after denouncing the situation at Bedford elementary school that came to light in a recent investigation […]
(Montreal Gazette) With the Legault government saying the evidence shows Quebec’s secularism law was being flouted, 11 teachers at Montreal’s Bedford elementary school have had their teaching licences suspended by the Education Ministry pending the conclusions of an investigation. And the government […]
(Canadian Press) The Quebec government renewed its call for Canada’s special representative on combating Islamophobia to resign Friday, after she sent a letter to college and university heads recommending the hiring of more Muslim, Arab and Palestinian professors. The existence of the […]
(CBC) One of Canada’s most prominent Muslim advocacy groups used part of its time in front of a Commons committee studying Islamophobia Thursday to attack a controversial Quebec law that bars most public sector employees from wearing religious clothing or symbols on the job. […]
(CBC) The Quebec crown prosecutors’ office says no charges will be filed after speeches at pro-Palestinian demonstrations last October led to accusations of hate speech. In a news release Thursday, the director of criminal and penal prosecutions (DPCP) says it came to […]
(Canadian Press) French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal used his visit to Quebec this week to express strong support for the province’s model of state secularism even as he claimed to abstain from weighing in on debates over the controversial policy. And despite […]
(CTV) The debate over the constitutionality of Quebec’s secularism law is poised to go to the Supreme Court of Canada. On Wednesday evening, the English Montreal School Board (EMSB) voted in favour of asking Canada’s top court to rule on Bill 21 […]
(CBC) The Quebec Court of Appeal has upheld the province’s controversial secularism law in a ruling on challenges to the law’s constitutionality released Thursday afternoon. The heavily anticipated judgment is 290 pages long and quashes a previous exception, made by Superior Court […]
(Global News) Nearly five years since the Quebec government implemented its secularism law, known as Bill 21, some of the province’s community groups say the legislation continues to have an impact on minority communities. The law bans certain public workers in positions […]
(Montreal Gazette) The leaders of Quebec’s four main political parties are calling for well-known and controversial imam Adil Charkaoui to be investigated for possible hate crimes after he delivered a prayer calling for the extermination of “Zionist aggressors” during a pro-Palestinian demonstration […]
(Montreal Gazette) Six Muslim groups are asking a Quebec court to declare unconstitutional a new provincial edict that bans religious activity in public schools. In a lawsuit filed this week, the groups asked Quebec Superior Court to “declare constitutionally invalid, inapplicable, inoperative […]
(Canadian Press) The federal Conservatives are trying to reassure the World Sikh Organization of Canada that the party remains opposed to Quebec’s secularism law after its MPs voted in support of a provision the province used to create it. On Monday, the […]
(CBC) The Quebec government is calling on the federal government to withdraw its support of Amira Elghawaby, the new representative to combat Islamophobia, only four days after she was first appointed. This comes a day after her attendance at the sixth commemoration […]
(CityNews) Next month’s provincial election will have tremendous implications for Quebec’s Muslim community, according to the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM). The NCCM released its Quebec election policy guide this week, ahead of the Oct. 3 vote. The guide lays out […]
(CityNews) Communities in Quebec are speaking out as the province’s premier said he and his party oppose multiculturalism. Quebec’s Premier François Legault said recently that he and his party oppose multiculturalism, adding that in Quebec there is only one culture that is […]
(CBC) Maram Makhlouf, a Grade 6 student, moved to Quebec from Germany about three years ago and on Thursday she was in a Montreal park with her family celebrating the province’s national holiday, or Fête nationale. She said the day is “really important to […]
(Canadian Press) The federal government will join a legal challenge to Quebec’s religious symbols law if it reaches the country’s highest court, Justice Minister David Lametti said Wednesday. “When it arrives at the Supreme Court of Canada, it is by definition a […]
(Canadian Press) A new poll suggests support may have slipped for a key element of Quebec’s secularism law, known as Bill 21. A web panel survey carried out by Leger for the Association for Canadian Studies earlier this month found 55 per […]
(CBC) The interim chair for the Western Québec School Board says the school board made a mistake in hiring Fatemeh Anvari, the Chelsea, Que., elementary school teacher who had to be removed from her position under Quebec’s secularism law because she wears […]
(Canadian Press) Premier François Legault said Friday a school board in western Quebec should never have hired a woman who had to be removed from her teaching duties because she wears a hijab. Legault said the province’s law restricting religious symbols, known […]
(Global News) Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau says he hasn’t “ruled out” federal intervention to challenge Bill 21 in court. The contentious bill, also known as Quebec’s “secularism bill,” is legislation across the province that prohibits public service workers, including teachers, lawyers and […]
(CBC) The vehicle attack in London, Ont., earlier this week, which killed all but one young member of the Afzaal family, was the third time in the last four years that Muslims in Canada have been murdered because of their faith. Since […]
(Canadian Press) Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday the habit of wearing a mask during the COVID-19 pandemic might be changing Quebecers’ views on the province’s religious symbols ban. He was asked about Quebec’s secularism law, Bill 21, during a news conference […]
(Global News) After a Quebec Superior Court judge rendered a decision upholding most of the Legault government’s religious symbols ban for public employees, a new chapter in the legal battle over Bill 21 is set to begin. Coalition Inclusion Quebec, a group […]
(CBC) Seeking re-election in October 2019, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau baited his opponents over their lack of commitment to a court challenge against Bill 21, the controversial Quebec secularism law that bans public servants from wearing religious symbols at work. “I am […]
(Montreal Gazette) A highly anticipated legal decision on Quebec’s religious symbols law is expected to be issued on Tuesday. Quebec Superior Court Justice Marc-André Blanchard heard arguments last winter for and against Bill 21, the controversial secularism law adopted by the Legault […]
(Montreal Gazette) Amnesty International is condemning Canada’s record on its treatment of First Nations peoples and minority rights and has singled out Quebec for the adoption of Bill 21. The human rights organization’s criticisms were contained in its annual report made public […]
(Canadian Press) Prime Minister Justin Trudeau defended free expression in a call with the president of France on Thursday, his office says. The conversation with France’s Emmanuel Macron came one week after three people were killed in a deadly knife assault in […]
(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 […]
(CBC) Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was pressed Tuesday to clarify comments he made last week about the limits of free speech after a teacher in France was beheaded by a terrorist for showing cartoon caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad during a class […]
Thank you for reading Eye on Islamism.