(Canadian Press) A welcome sign in the lobby of Montreal’s newly renovated city hall depicting a woman wearing a headscarf will be removed in the name of secularism, Montreal’s mayor says, following criticism that the image is offensive. Valérie Plante said during […]
(Montreal Gazette) The Quebec government has opened an investigation into another incident of religion reappearing in a public elementary school, with Education Minister Bernard Drainville saying Quebec will not turn a blind eye to the fresh allegations. One day after suspending 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 […]
(Montreal Gazette) Urging politicians to not shy away from the debate because it involves religion, Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon called Monday for stricter secularism rules in the wake of the Bedford school controversy. St-Pierre Plamondon said what happened in the […]
(Montreal Gazette) Parents at a Montreal primary school where 11 teachers were suspended over the weekend expressed shock and confusion during after-school pickup on Monday, with several questioning if the situation had been blown out of proportion. The suspensions, announced on Saturday, […]
(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 […]
(CBC) Quebec’s education minister officially prohibited schools from transforming classrooms into prayer rooms Wednesday, as announced two weeks ago. “Schools are places of learning, not places of worship,” said Bernard Drainville. The guidelines put out by the Education Ministry say that “the […]
(Canadian Press) Muslim groups are speaking out against the Quebec government’s intention to ban prayer spaces in public schools, saying they will monitor how the Education Department enforces its new rules. In response to reports that at least two Montreal-area schools had […]
(Canadian Press) Quebec’s education minister said Wednesday it will soon be forbidden to have prayer rooms in the province’s public schools. Bernard Drainville told reporters in Quebec City he has learned of at least two Montreal-area schools that have permitted students to […]
(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 […]
(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 […]
(CBC) The Quebec government says Ottawa has some explaining to do after it was revealed that the English Montreal School Board is funding two separate legal challenges of provincial laws with federal tax dollars. “We need an explanation from the federal government,” […]
(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) 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 […]
(Global News) Quebec Premier François Legault congratulated Justin Trudeau on his reelection. Yet bolstered by the Liberals’ drop to minority status and the electoral success of the nationalist Bloc Québécois, Legault cautioned the prime minister not to take any actions that go […]
(CBC) Hundreds of people attended a rally in the Park Extension neighbourhood on a rainy Saturday afternoon to speak out against Quebec’s secularism law — and in particular its effect on teachers in the province. Bouchera Chelbi, who teaches English as a […]
(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 […]
(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, […]
(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 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 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 […]
(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 […]
(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) 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) Quebec’s Education Ministry is trying to find out how many people its plan to ban teachers from wearing religious symbols will affect. The ministry has asked school boards whether they have a record of how many staff wear a religious symbol […]
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