(Toronto Sun) The resurgent Bloc Quebecois is poised to perform well in the election under its articulate and pragmatic leader, Yves-Francois Blanchet. It has successfully pitched itself to younger voters by turning away from ageing entrenched separatists. Recent polls in Quebec put […]
(Canadian Press) Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet has had enough of all the secularism talk. Quebec’s Bill 21 banning religious symbols for some public servants is a “very important” subject, but it should not be an issue in the current federal campaign, the […]
(CTV) Over 100 people gathered in Place-Emilie-Gamelin on Sunday to demonstrate against Quebec’s Bill 21, the start of a weeklong flurry of activity in opposition to the controversial religious symbols law. The Montreal protest was one of four in cities across the […]
(CTV) Bill 21 has been law in Quebec since June, but that hasn’t stopped public mobilization against the province’s controversial ban on religious symbols in the public service. Anti-Bill 21 demonstrations will be held in four cities across the province at 2 […]
(CBC) Quebec’s secularism law, which bans some civil servants from wearing religious symbols at work, is facing a new legal challenge. Lawyers representing a multi-faith group filed a motion Thursday in Quebec Superior Court that argues the law violates constitutional protections of gender […]
(Canadian Press) National party leaders’ reluctance to intervene in a court challenge to Quebec’s controversial Bill 21 may have left the erroneous impression that there’s nothing the federal government can do to try to stop the law that bans teachers, police and […]
(CBC) Federal leaders have been challenged to outline their position on Quebec’s secularism law in the first week of the campaign. The law has been met with criticism within the province and across the country, with many saying it infringes on people’s right to […]
(CBC) Justin Trudeau said Wednesday that a Liberal government would not get involved in legal challenges to Quebec’s religious symbols law, at least not “for the moment.” But that wasn’t good enough for the province’s premier, François Legault, who wants a commitment from all federal […]
(CTV) Organizers of a campaign against Bill 21 are asking Quebecers to express their opposition to Quebec’s controversial ban on religious symbols in the public service by publicly wearing an anti-Bill 21 button and a religious symbol of their choosing. “Even if […]
(Canadian Press) The Quebec government is saying no to some parents who want to pull their children out of classrooms taught by teachers wearing religious symbols. About 50 parents signed an open letter published in Montreal newspaper Le Devoir Wednesday calling on […]
(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 […]
(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 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) After a 19-hour marathon session, members of Quebec’s National Assembly have passed legislation that would allow the government to cancel roughly 16,000 immigration applications, some from people who have waited in limbo for years as their files languished in the old […]
(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) 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 […]
(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) 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) 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 […]
(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) 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) 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.” […]
(CBC) Thousands of protesters gathered in downtown Montreal on Sunday afternoon to protest the Quebec government’s Bill 21 — proposed legislation that would ban some public employees from wearing symbols of their faith. “Quebec is not France, long live the difference!” protesters chanted […]
(CBC) A week after tabling the legislation, opposition to the Coalition Avenir Québec government’s plan to ban certain public workers from wearing religious symbols is growing more organized — and more vitriolic. Politicians in Montreal’s west end at the federal, provincial and municipal level came […]
(CBC) The mayor of Montreal calls it “very concerning.” Religious groups say it’s discriminatory. And civil liberties groups have vowed to fight. But what legal options do these groups have in the face of the Coalition Avenir Québec government’s secularism bill, and what […]
(CBC) The Coalition Avenir Québec government is proposing a new law that would prohibit public workers in positions of authority from wearing religious symbols such as a hijab, kippa or turban. The stated aim of the bill, titled, “An act respecting the laicity of […]
(CBC) As the Quebec government prepares to table its secularism bill, constitutional experts are raising concerns about Premier François Legault’s reported plans to pre-emptively invoke the notwithstanding clause to ensure public workers in positions of authority are banned from wearing religious symbols. Robert Leckey, dean of McGill […]
(CBC) Quebec public schools teachers and school principals will be prohibited from wearing religious symbols such as the hijab or kippa, under a bill likely to be tabled later this week in the provincial legislature. The long-awaited legislation from the Coaltion Avenir […]
(CBC) A Gatineau city councillor is apologizing for remarks she made last week about Islamophobia in Quebec, but maintains she’s been unfairly judged. In a French-language newspaper interview last week, Coun. Nathalie Lemieux said she didn’t believe Islamophobia exists in the province, and […]
(CBC) Quebec Premier François Legault has clarified his controversial comments about Islamophobia, now saying such discrimination exists but that it is not widespread. In a statement Friday, the premier’s office said Legault meant to say that there isn’t an “undercurrent” of Islamophobia in Quebec. “Quebecers are open […]
(CBC) The mayor of Gatineau, Que., wants one of his councillors out of her post as deputy mayor after she said Islamophobia doesn’t exist and said Muslim immigrants have failed to integrate into society. In the newspaper Le Droit, Gatineau Coun. Nathalie […]
(CBC) Premier François Legault says there’s no need for a day devoted to action against Islamophobia — because Islamophobia isn’t a problem in the province. Legault made the comments two days after the second anniversary of the Quebec City mosque attack, when the deputy premier, Geneviève Guilbault, said the […]
(CBC) At the Québec Solidaire national council this weekend in Montreal, two camps emerged on the issue of religious symbols: one of secularism and one of inclusion. While the party already supports the banning of religious symbols worn by police officers, judges, […]
(CBC) Most Quebecers are in favour of banning public-sector workers from wearing religious symbols, according to a CROP poll released ahead of the first legislative session under a Coalition Avenir Québec government. But a separate survey by Vox Pop Labs, conducted following […]
(CBC) Quebec’s new government is planning to block Muslim women who work in the civil service from wearing the chador, a shawl-like piece of clothing that covers the head and body, and the niqab, which also covers the face. Coalition Avenir Québec […]
(Montreal Gazette) Teachers at Westmount High School took to the street Thursday to protest the incoming Coalition Avenir Québec’s proposed religious neutrality laws, on the day the new government was officially sworn in. The English Montreal School Board, which represents more than […]
(CBC) Philosopher Charles Taylor says the new CAQ government “doesn’t get the point” of the report he co-authored that’s been frequently cited by the CAQ as justification for its controversial plan to ban the wearing of religious symbols by some civil servants. […]
(Canadian Press) Amrit Kaur’s turban never leaves her body, no matter what she does. The 27-year-old student teacher from Vaudreuil-Dorion, west of Montreal, has even figured out a way to shower with it on, by tying it around her waist while she washes her hair. […]
(Canadian Press) A diverse crowd of protesters took to the streets of Montreal on Sunday to march against racism and denounce the newly elected Coalition Avenir Quebec government. Muslim families pushing strollers, Indigenous community leaders, masked anti-capitalist activists and members of some 50 community […]
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