Bill 21 is divisive and unnecessary, Montreal school officials say

https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/bill-21-is-divisive-and-unnecessary-school-boards-association-says?fbclid=IwAR17iGOPou3rgx_gC6OFsDPu-XsWId1kDvrzugRivQSbCtusCxMj34y2mn4

Quebec’s new secularism law is divisive, unnecessary and contrary to the values taught in English schools, Russell Copeman, the executive director of the Quebec English School Boards Association, said on Monday.
On a practical level, the law will be very difficult, if not impossible to enforce, he said.
“The law creates various categories of employees who will not be able to wear religious symbols and contains a grandfather clause (for current teachers provided they don’t change job titles or school boards).”
There could easily be a situation where a new principal posted to a school sees an employee wearing a hijab, but does not know whether the employee is a teacher, a school psychologist, a lunch monitor or an after-school monitor.

Statement by [Concordia University] Department of Education on Bill 21

http://www.concordia.ca/cunews/artsci/education/2019/04/12/Statement-by-Department-of-Education-on-Bill-21.html
 
We, the undersigned, affirm our total opposition to and rejection of Bill 21, An Act respecting the laicity of the State, deposited by the provincial government at the Assemblée Nationale on March 28, 2019. We believe that teachers and education professionals demonstrate our commitment to Québec’s secular society through our teaching. Those of us who wear symbols of religious faith are valued and important members of the teaching community, and are not a threat to secular society in Québec.

One of the aims of the Québec Education Program (Programme de formation de l’école Québecoise) is for learners to:
·      acquire or consolidate…an understanding of how all individuals are equal in terms of right and dignity (d'acquérir ou de consolider… la notion selon laquelle toutes les personnes sont égales sur le plan des droits et de la dignité).

Bill 21 is an attack on the values promoted in the Québec Education Program (QEP)­. The inclusive spirit of the QEP does not discriminate against particular faith traditions ...

Québec’s Trump-like immigration policies contradict Canada’s welcoming image

https://theconversation.com/quebecs-trump-like-immigration-policies-contradict-canadas-welcoming-image-112482

Globe: Is Quebec’s secular charter constitutional? NO. Nine legal experts weigh in

Is Quebec’s secular charter constitutional? Nine legal experts weigh in - The Globe and Mail

Sean Fine, The Globe and Mail’s justice writer, asked nine distinguished lawyers to form an expert panel and give their opinions on the constitutionality of Quebec’s proposed prohibitions on religious clothing and symbols in public-sector workplaces. The panel was chosen for regional balance – to reflect the composition of the Supreme Court of Canada, including three members from Quebec. Two advocates from Quebec – law professor and former Bloc Québécois MP and Parti Québécois MNA Daniel Turp and human-rights lawyer Julius Grey – presented the arguments, for and against, and their arguments were distributed to the panel. The panel, drawn mostly from law schools across Canada, was resoundingly opposed to the new ‘charter of values’ by a count of 9-0 – though with an asterisk on one of the nine.

Shauna Van Praagh – No, it goes against both charters of rights

Hugo Cyr – No, Quebec hasn't proved its case

Sylvain Lussier – No, Quebec's justification isn't 'pressing'

Jamie Cameron – No, the breach of rights is flagrant

Nathalie Des Rosiers – No, with one exception about exceptions

Tsvi Kahana – No, it's a blatant case of rights violation

Kathleen Mahoney – No, it's an unjustifiable violation of rights

Stephen J. Toope – No, it would lead to absurdities of inequality

Jennifer Llewellyn – No, it violates freedom of religion protections

William Johnson: How Jack Layton [and the NDP] courted Bloc voters

http://www2.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/archives/story.html?id=5b16f378-6020-41ed-a215-1b97b7833f0f

The game-changer of the 2011 election campaign is the New Democratic Party's surge in Quebec while the Bloc Québécois declined.

None had predicted it. It took all by surprise. But was it an entirely unaccountable phenomenon? Hardly.

From the time he won the NDP leadership in 2003, Jack Layton manoeuvred to build his party in Quebec from the ground up by courting the nationalist clientele of the Bloc Québécois. His strategy followed that of Brian Mulroney when the Progressive Conservative party was defunct in la belle province. The Tory leader built support in Quebec by recruiting separatists like Marcel Masse and Lucien Bouchard, then launching nationalist messages like treating the 1982 patriation of the Constitution as an infamy.

Patriquin: Religious symbols ban for teachers would be cruel, absurd

The Quebec government's calls to school boards show a crass incomprehension of labour laws, as well as the province's human rights charter.

https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/patriquin-religious-symbols-ban-for-teachers-would-be-cruel-absurd

Last Friday, English Montreal School Board Director General Ann Marie Matheson received an odd request from Quebec’s education ministry. Did the EMSB keep statistics of just how many of its teachers and administration staff wore religious symbols? Matheson said the board doesn’t keep such statistics. The call lasted about 15 seconds.

Across town, a similar call was placed to the director general’s office of the CSDM, the largest French school board in the province. A similar answer was given: these statistics don’t exist.

These two calls are astonishing and troubling for a variety of reasons. François Legault’s Coalition Avenir Québec government is in the process of writing a proposed law that would ban the wearing of religious symbols for those government workers with “coercive power,” a category into which the CAQ has awkwardly shoehorned teachers.

Gérard Bouchard says he's 'disappointed' by CAQ's proposed ban on religious symbols

Co-author of Bouchard-Taylor report says repeated efforts to act on recommendations have failed

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/bouchard-reax-caq-ban-1.4878941?fbclid=IwAR1UQBCq5B33gq_oqoNyjvKQd81E8qy2ZoxKSArEA4VeCJqEt7Y08BEfHtA

Gérard Bouchard, the eminent sociologist who co-authored the 2008 report on the reasonable accommodation of cultural minorities in Quebec, has joined Charles Taylor in criticizing the CAQ government's proposed ban on religious symbols for some civil servants.

Last week, Taylor slammed the CAQ plan, calling it ignorant and dishonest.

Now Bouchard is also speaking out, saying Premier François Legault's plan caught him off guard ...

Globe editorial: How Jagmeet Singh’s leadership has diminished the NDP

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/editorials/article-globe-editorial-how-jagmeet-singhs-leadership-has-diminished-the-ndp/

Mr. Singh took the helm of his party the autumn before last in a blaze of viral YouTube videos and bespoke suits, inspiring dreams of an NDP Justin Trudeau.

His political assets were easy to rattle off: he was the first non-white person to head a federal party; he represented a riding in the Ontario provincial legislature that’s part of the suburban 905 area code, where federal elections are often decided; he spoke passionately, in both official languages, about first principles like fairness and equality; he was photogenic.

What NDP partisans overlooked – and what his time as leader has exposed – is the daunting list of qualifications for high office that Mr. Singh has not yet mastered.

Quebec won't pay for the promotion of federalism or separatism, Legault says

However, the CAQ government has ruled that Fête nationale activities taking place on St-Jean-Baptiste Day will continue to be eligible for funding allotted to Quebec's MNAs.

https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/local-funding-banned-for-canada-day-quebec-separation-events-report?fbclid=IwAR1Ob12hrMLwVCv76eZe2HWsT-afozI0iF8SzQIebig5ckJx1OsQdvncT_E

Premier François Legault said on Wednesday he has nothing against provincial funds being used to finance celebrations of Canada, he just doesn’t want them used to promote federalism.

“What we’re talking about is the promotion of federalism,” Legault told reporters. “I don’t think it’s up to the government of Quebec to finance activities promoting federalism. We can give grants to neighbourhood parties during Canada Day. What we want to avoid is getting into the promotion of federalism and Canada.”

Legault added however that the funding ban also extends to neighbourhood-level activities that promote Quebec sovereignty.

Judge [stays] Quebec [Bill 62] until province establishes rules for religious accommodation

http://nationalpost.com/news/canada/judge-strikes-down-section-of-quebec-law-that-bans-face-coverings

MONTREAL — A Quebec judge has temporarily stayed a key provision of the controversial law banning people from receiving or giving a public service with their face covered.

Superior Court Justice Babak Barin ruled today the article will be stayed until the province establishes rules under which people can apply for a religious accommodation to the legislation.

Bill 62 was passed in October and was criticized for targeting Muslim women because they are among the few people in society who wear face veils.