(CBC) Canada’s top court has refused to look at whether Quebec’s controversial ban on religious symbols should be suspended until the case is heard on its merits. Civil rights groups had filed an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada in January after Quebec’s Court of […]
(CBC) Civil rights groups challenging Quebec’s controversial ban on religious symbols have filed an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. Last month, Quebec’s Court of Appeal rejected a request to suspend portions of the law, known as Bill 21, pending a ruling on its constitutionality. […]
(CBC) Civil rights groups challenging Quebec’s controversial ban on religious symbols want to take their case to Canada’s top court. Quebec’s Court of Appeal last week rejected a request to suspend portions of the law, known as Bill 21, pending a ruling on its constitutionality. […]
(CBC) Amal Sassi was counting on Quebec’s highest court to suspend the province’s controversial secularism law, so she kept her head buried in her books Thursday and focused on studying for her final exams. When she stepped out and heard the news that […]
(CBC) Quebec’s Court of Appeal has refused to suspend the province’s controversial ban on religious symbols, even while acknowledging it causes “irreparable harm” to those affected. The province’s top court was ruling on a request to stay sections of the Laicity Act, or Bill 21, […]
(CBC) The stakes around Quebec’s secularism law have always been high, but somehow they’ve managed to become even higher in recent days. The law (Bill 21) has already altered the career choices of dozens, maybe hundreds, of aspiring public school teachers, prosecutors and police officers by […]
(CBC) Quebec Premier François Legault offered a brief shout-out on Tuesday to Quebecers “preoccupied” with the alleged bias of a judge involved in a case related to the province’s secularism law. During a media scrum at the National Assembly, Legault was asked […]
(CBC) A Quebec historian has launched a formal complaint against the chief justice of the province’s Court of Appeal over comments she made about the province’s religious symbols law. Frédéric Bastien, who teaches history at Dawson College, said taken together, Justice Nicole Duval […]
(CBC) An advocacy group is launching a campaign to inform Muslim women of their rights as it tries to deal with increasing reports of harassment and discrimination since Quebec’s secularism law was introduced. Justice Femme, the group behind the campaign, will begin distributing […]
(Canadian Press) Opponents of Quebec’s secularism law introduced a new legal argument in Appeal Court Tuesday, saying that Bill 21 disproportionately affects women and therefore violates the Constitution. Lawyer Olga Redko argued Bill 21 violates the sexual equality guarantees in the Canadian […]
(CBC) The two civil liberties groups that mounted an early legal challenge to Quebec’s secularism law were at the Quebec Court of Appeal today making a second attempt to have parts of the law suspended while their challenge is considered. When the National Council […]
(Canadian Press) Quebec Premier Francois Legault defended the province’s controversial secularism bill on Thursday after yet another municipal council passed a motion this week condemning the legislation. Toronto city councillors passed the motion at their meeting on Wednesday, making the Ontario capital the largest […]
(Canadian Press) Protesters against Quebec’s secularism law said Sunday that they aren’t giving up the fight to overturn Bill 21, with or without politicians on their side. As a cold rain fell, dozens gathered in Montreal’s Parc-Extension neighbourhood on Sunday to march against […]
(CBC) The English Montreal School Board (EMSB) has filed its legal challenge of Quebec’s controversial law that bars teachers and principals from wearing religious symbols. The legal challenge, filed Thursday by the law firm Power Law on behalf of the EMSB and parent commissioners […]
(CBC) Maxime Bernier’s People’s Party says it won’t take action against one of its candidates in Nova Scotia who called Islam “pure evil” and “not compatible with democracy” in numerous social media posts. Sybil Hogg, the PPC candidate for Sackville-Preston-Chezzetcook, made a […]
(CBC) The English Montreal School Board has voted in favour of taking the province to court over its religious symbols ban. They’re seeking an exemption because they are a linguistic minority. Last month, the EMSB held off on deciding whether or not it […]
(CBC) Civil rights groups fighting Quebec’s religious symbols law have filed new evidence which, they say, demonstrates without a doubt it has “caused and continues to cause irreparable harm.” Lawyers submitted affidavits last week from Muslim women who were denied employment opportunities or […]
(CBC) The largest school board in Quebec says three teachers have been directly affected by Quebec’s secularism law, formerly known as Bill 21. On Tuesday afternoon, the Commission Scolaire de Montréal (CSDM) revealed the teachers took off their religious symbols in order to be able to […]
(Toronto Sun) Now that the election campaign has kicked off and Justin Trudeau is once again Liberal leader, it’s time to weigh in on how the Muslim vote is likely to pan out. Trudeau has the unsavoury reputation in some corners of […]
(CBC) The Green Party has turfed one of its Ontario candidates over an old social media post in which he spoke about sending a pig carcass to Muslims. Erik Schomann, who was the party’s candidate in Simcoe North, posted a photo of himself […]
(CBC) Climate change and Islamophobia were key topics Tuesday night for a crowd in downtown Toronto who attended a town hall with federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh. The town hall, which was hosted by the National Canadian Council of Muslims, touched on a […]
(CBC) A Muslim civil liberties group is calling on Quebec City police to take hate crimes more seriously, after the police force blamed “human error” for a large discrepancy between their own records and those provided by Statistics Canada. “All Canadians deserve to feel […]
(CBC) When Ramz Aziz received a nervous phone call from his mother-in-law two years ago, it wasn’t to check in on his new baby. Instead, two men were at her door, looking for him. The pair identified themselves as public safety officers, and […]
(Global News) The National Council of Canadian Muslims is calling on a Toronto-area Conservative candidate to step aside following reports about her past social media posts. Nadia Hasan, acting executive director of the council, said Saturday that Ghada Melek’s alleged comments on […]
(Global News) Organizations trying to challenge Bill 21 won a small victory in court on Thursday. The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA), along with Ichrak Nourel Hak — a university student who wears a […]
(Religion News) Quebec’s Superior Court recently rejected civil rights advocates’ legal request to suspend the Canadian province’s controversial new ban on religious symbols for state workers. But activists in Canada and around the world say the fight is not yet over. “We […]
(CBC) Two civil rights groups are seeking an appeal after a Quebec Superior Court justice refused their emergency request to temporarily freeze parts of the province’s new religious symbols law. The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) and the Canadian Civil Liberties […]
(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, […]
(Middle East Eye) A prominent Canadian Muslim advocacy group has declined an invitation to attend an upcoming US government conference on religious freedom because of President Donald Trump’s travel ban of several Muslim-majority countries. The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) on […]
(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 […]
(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 […]
(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) 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 […]
(CTV) In the face of increasing Islamophobia, a group of Muslims in Toronto is vowing to reclaim the mosque as a sacred and safe space for women. The Women’s Mosque of Canada marked its first prayer meeting in Toronto Friday, in an […]
(CBC) Civil rights activists in the National Capital Region say they will challenge Quebec’s secularism bill introduced Thursday by the Coalition Avenir Québec government. The legislation bans public workers from wearing religious symbols such as the kippa or hijab. This includes judges, crown prosecutors, teachers and principals, although the bill […]
(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) 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) 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 […]
(Middle East Eye) More than 100 community groups across Canada have called on Justin Trudeau’s government to designate January 29 a National Day of Action against Hate and Intolerance, in memory of the victims of a deadly attack on a Canadian mosque […]
(IPT) The government of Canada plans to funnel $23 million into a multicultural program, Member of Parliament Iqra Khalid announced last week. The money is an outgrowth of Canada’s M-103 “systemic racism and religious discrimination” bill that called on the government to […]
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