(Global News) Two minors have been arrested in Ontario and Quebec on allegations of terrorism, Global News has learned. In Toronto, a youth was arrested Jan. 14 on a preventive terrorism peace bond and appeared in court Thursday in a case allegedly […]
(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 […]
(Canadian Press) Canada’s special envoy on combating antisemitism has sharply criticized as “discriminatory” Quebec’s law banning teachers and some other public-sector employees from wearing religious symbols at work. Prof. Irwin Cotler, who was appointed by the prime minister to fight antisemitism, has […]
(CTV) A recent letter published in a leading Canadian medical journal has stirred up debate — and controversy — around the hijab and prompted calls for a full retraction. On Dec. 20, the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) published a letter, with […]
(Toronto Sun) Last week, a Quebec school teacher was removed from her classroom for wearing the hijab. Quebec’s controversial secularist law, Bill 21, prohibits religious symbols in public places. The law has many human rights activists and federal parliamentarians on edge. MPs […]
(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 […]
(CTV) Parents and students at an elementary school in Chelsea, Que., say they are shocked a teacher was removed from the classroom for wearing a hijab. The Western Quebec School Board confirms the Grade 3 teacher at Chelsea Elementary School was removed […]
(Canadian Press) The Conservative MP leading outreach efforts for leader Erin O’Toole says a six-year-old promise to create a “barbaric cultural practices” hotline still hangs over the party’s attempts to rebuild relationships with racialized communities today. “It’s there,” Tim Uppal says. “It […]
(CBC) Quebec’s English school boards will have to abide by the province’s secularism law, known as Bill 21, until challenges against and in favour of the law are heard in court. The province’s Court of Appeal has rejected a request by the […]
(CBC) The English Montreal School Board was before the Quebec Court of Appeal Monday, asking for an acceleration of its exemption to Bill 21, the controversial law that prevents some civil servants in positions of authority — including teachers — from wearing religious […]
(CBC) A Quebec City resident has filed a complaint to Elections Québec denouncing hate speech in a fringe municipal party’s platform. Radio-Canada obtained an email sent to the Quebec City returning officer, in which the plaintiff says Alliance Citoyenne de Québec (ACQ) made […]
(Canadian Press) Dareen Shilbayeh can’t stop herself from looking over her shoulder while out in public. The London, Ont., resident who wears a hijab says she’s been worried she’ll be targeted because of her faith ever since a Muslim family was killed […]
(iPolitics) A federal candidate for the Bloc Québécois (BQ) has been writing messages with “Islamophobic” undertones on Twitter and Facebook for years. Ensaf Haidar, 42, became the BQ’s nominee for southern Quebec’s Sherbrooke riding last month. Her husband Raif Badawi was arrested […]
(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) Three months after all major party leaders gave emotional speeches at a vigil in London, Ontario, for the four members of the [Afzaal] family who were killed in a drive-by attack, the threat of Islamophobic violence still hasn’t emerged as an […]
(Canadian Press) Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called out federal security and tax agencies during a national summit on Islamophobia, saying they must do more to put an end to anti-Muslim sentiments in Canada. Speaking to the meeting organized by the government, Trudeau […]
(CBC) The head of a group representing Muslim people in Quebec says many members are hopeful there will be a plan for concrete actions coming out of Thursday’s national summit on Islamophobia — and that several specific issues relating to the province will […]
(Global News) Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Islamophobia has been fed by populism and the politics of division. “There are politicians who have been stoking hatred and division that we as a government have been pushing back against,” said Trudeau in an […]
(Canadian Press) A national strategy to fight anti-Muslim hate across society is one of 61 recommendations released Monday by the National Council of Canadian Muslims ahead of a summit on Islamophobia to be held later this week. The organization hosted events on […]
(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 […]
(CBC) Quebec’s attorney general filed a notice of appeal Friday regarding the Superior Court decision on April 20, which upheld most, but not all, of the province’s controversial secularism law enacted under the Coalition Avenir Québec government. In that ruling, Justice Marc-André Blanchard […]
(Canadian Press) Two groups that unsuccessfully challenged Quebec’s religious symbols law in court say they’ll be appealing last month’s ruling. The National Council of Canadian Muslims and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association say in a statement today the law known as Bill […]
(CBC) Amar Al-Shakfa dropped off her CV at a Montreal school on Wednesday, a day after learning English school boards would be exempt from the province’s ban on religious symbols under a new court ruling. Al-Shakfa, a 25-year-old Montrealer who wears a […]
(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 […]
(CBC) Quebec’s secularism law violates the basic rights of religious minorities in the province, but those violations are permissible because of the Constitution’s notwithstanding clause, a Superior Court judge ruled on Tuesday. But the ruling by Justice Marc-André Blanchard also declared that […]
(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) The Quebec government does not believe its secularism law violates freedom of religion, but rather it serves to frame it, one of its lawyers told a court Wednesday. As those defending the law began final arguments in the court challenge, […]
(Global News) A key member of a terrorist group that plotted truck bombings in downtown Toronto in 2006 was granted day parole on Tuesday, even though a corrections official opposed his release as “premature.” The Parole Board of Canada approved Shareef Abdelhaleem’s […]
(Canadian Press) When the Quebec government tells English schools they cannot hire women wearing the hijab, it violates the rights of the English-speaking minority to manage its educational institutions, a lawyer argued Tuesday in a case challenging the province’s secularism law. The […]
(CBC) A task force comprised of faith groups, think-tanks and community organizations in Calgary says Quebec’s Bill 21 has impacted religious minorities across Canada since it came into law in 2019. The secularism law bans religious symbols, like hijabs and turbans, prohibiting public teachers, lawyers, police […]
(CBC) Several parents pleaded with a Quebec Superior Court judge on Monday to uphold the province’s religious symbols ban in order to shield their children from being exposed to the hijab, which they believe conveys a “pernicious” sexist message. The parents, all […]
(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 […]
(CBC) A test of the constitutionality of Quebec’s secularism law began Monday amid tearful testimony from Muslim and Sikh teachers who said the law derailed their careers and made them targets of bigotry. The law, which was passed last year despite protests from civil […]
(CBC) Around 9:30 on Monday morning, on the 17th floor of a drab, black and grey building in Montreal, some of the most basic principles of Canadian democracy will go on trial. That’s when lawyers from several civil society groups will begin […]
(Canadian Press) Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole said following a meeting Monday with Quebec Premier Francois Legault that he supports the province’s right to pass legislation banning religious symbols and he wouldn’t challenge it in court. Canada is facing a national unity crisis, O’Toole told reporters after his first in-person meeting […]
(CBC) A Quebec court judge, who refused to hear the case of a Montreal woman because she was wearing a hijab, has finally apologized for the incident, more than five years after it happened. At an online hearing of the Quebec Council of the […]
(CBC) A Quebec court judge who refused to hold a hearing for a Montreal woman after the woman refused to remove her hijab now says she’s willing to apologize for the incident, more than five years after it happened. In February 2015, Judge Eliana […]
(CBC) Dozens of people gathered outside Quebec Premier François Legault’s Montreal office on Sunday to stage a sit-in, in opposition to the province’s ban on religious symbols that became law one year ago. The most controversial section of the law, known as […]
(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) The English Montreal School Board says it will not take the $250,000 it was offered by the federally backed Court Challenges Program to fight two Quebec laws that the board contends go against the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In […]
(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) 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 […]
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