The Quebec Court of Appeal Thursday refused to suspend the Quebec law that bans most public servants from wearing religious symbols while on the job, including teachers and police officers.
The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, along with a university student, had argued the law unfairly targets Muslim women who wear the hijab. The organizations said the law also disproportionately applies to women and in doing so it violates the sexual equality rights enshrined in the Canadian charter of rights.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calls recent comments by the mayor of Hampstead, Que., ‘unacceptable.’ Mayor William Steinberg said Quebec’s proposed religious symbol ban amounts to ‘peaceful ethnic cleansing.’ https://t.co/lAZeFgiF6H
— CBC News Alerts (@CBCAlerts) April 10, 2019
While the law is specific to Quebec, it comes amid arguments elsewhere in the world around restricting the display of religious symbols—though in most cases, Muslim women are bearing the brunt. In 2011, France banned full-face veils, such as the burka or niqab, in public, and has sought to restrict full-body swimsuits (“burkinis”) on beaches as well. A ban of full-face veils is also on the books in Belgium, Austria, and Denmark, while similar measures are being considered by other European countries, or are being adopted on a more local scale.
Still, civil-liberties groups say the law is an example of rising xenophobia in Quebec. They argue that people who wear symbols of their religion in public already feel ostracized in Quebec; the new law makes it legal to deny them government jobs. The state’s job is to protect minority rights, not curb them—and Bill 21 is doing precisely that, they contend.
But Thursday’s ruling does not end the fight against the law. Notably, some Muslim women who wear the hijab said they were rejected when they applied for teaching positions after the bill became law earlier this year