Although opposed, mayor says Montreal would enforce Quebec;s Laicity Bill if approved

She also said that CDN-NDG borough mayor Montgomery, who said she'd refuse, will also abide.

https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/bill-21
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante said while she is opposed to Bill 21, she would abide by the ban on religious garb if the law is passed in the National Assembly.

Introduced last month by the Coalition Avenir Québec government, Bill 21 would bar public school teachers, police officers and other civil servants from wearing religious clothing — such as a kippa, a hijab or a turban — on the job.

Plante has denounced the law and said she looks forward to speaking at coming hearings in Quebec City to explain Montrealers of all ethnic backgrounds live without conflict caused by religious symbols. On Monday, city council will also issue a bipartisan statement against the proposed law.

Opinion: Rather than Bill 21, let's have pluralistic secularism

Ultra-secularism has this in common with religion: both include extremists incapable of listening and opening their minds to difference.

https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/opinion-rather-than-bill-21-lets-have-pluralistic-secularism

The main purpose of Bill 21 is to “protect our identity,” says Premier François Legault. But whose identity is being protected and what kind of society will this bill promote? By forbidding schoolteachers, school principals, police officers and other public officials, as well as a number of other citizens from wearing religious symbols central to their identities, Bill 21 treats citizens who choose to wear such symbols as threats to our society, incapable of participating fully in a “secular” state and of assuming their responsibilities in a spirit of impartiality and political neutrality. This narrow view of society is actually a form of fundamentalism, which may be termed “ultra-secularism.”

Although Quebec has its own difficult history of struggles with religious identity, racism and discrimination, we have worked together to forge a pluralistic society. Now, however, global anxieties that fuel anti-diversity, anti-immigration and anti-Islam positions are finding fertile ground among Quebec’s columnists, essayists, ideologues and politicians — giving rise to movements, rallies, associations and other actions by those fearful of otherness, especially when that other is Muslim. Some of our elected representatives and leaders are cozying up to xenophobic groups, insisting on the need to ban the hijab, but also the turban, the kippah and other items of attire they say threaten our secularism. And anyone who has a different vision of pluralism and democracy is regarded as anti-secular or “secular-phobic.” In practice, these ultra-secular groups are promoting exclusionary policies that will make whole segments of our population second-class citizens.

In the course of their post-colonial history, three Muslim countries actually have banned the hijab: Tunisia under Bourguiba, Iran during the Pahlavi dynasty, and Turkey under Mustapha Kemal. All three were leaders of authoritarian regimes. This raises a deep question for secularism in some Western countries in general and in Quebec in particular: could it be that both requiring and banning the wearing of the hijab, or any other religious symbols, are essentially illiberal and misogynistic actions? To answer that question, we need to take a step back and set aside our own ideological sympathies long enough to engage in some clear and constructive thinking ...

Father Raymond J. de Souza: In polite Canada, every group (and province) has unique virtues. None have unique failings

A Quebec-based reporter, interviewing me, assumed that Quebecers have certain good characteristics, for example, a looser approach to traditional morality on marriage and family, but why is this always a good thing?

https://nationalpost.com/opinion/father-raymond-j-de-souza-in-polite-canada-every-group-and-province-has-unique-virtues-none-have-unique-failings

CAQ bill boosts power to verify values, French proficiency of immigrants

The just-tabled Bill 9 would also help eliminate the backlog of applicants — and give government the power to move them to the regions.

https://montrealgazette.com/news/quebec/caq-bill-boosts-power-to-verify-values-french-proficiency-of-immigrants

QUEBEC — The immigration minister has tabled sweeping legislation designed to eventually increase his powers to verify the knowledge of French, Quebec and democratic values of new arrivals as was promised in the provincial election campaign.

And the Coalition Avenir Québec government is also seeking the power to trash a large chunk of the backlog of 18,000 immigrant applications it found sitting in government file cabinets when it took over from the Liberals rather than try to process them.

Quebec plans to refund the $1,000 application fee for anyone who applied to enter Quebec as an economic immigration before Aug. 2, 2018 under the Regular Skilled Worker Progra

As fight over Quebec's religious symbols law shifts to courts, legal experts debate best way to challenge it

Bill 21 invokes notwithstanding clause, complicating how opponents can challenge law's constitutionality

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/as-fight-over-quebec-s-religious-symbols-law-shifts-to-courts-legal-experts-debate-best-way-to-challenge-it-1.5204112?fbclid=IwAR1zgVpqvQAkmvckxCvBM3SrwJ2uvhjxYdnjqNli8gEm2UFIoGOu71cbzu4

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 the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, will get its first hearing before a judge.

Given widespread concerns about the law's potentially harmful effects on minorities, legal experts predict other court challenges are likely to follow ...
 

Bill 21 is 'impermissibly vague,' Quebec Superior Court hears

The new secularism law sets Quebec "on a different path than the rest of Canada" when it comes to religious rights, lawyer Catherine McKenzie argued Tuesday.  

 
https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/quebec-superior-court-begins-hearing-arguments-on-bill-21?fbclid=IwAR0h2rXagW2Bi-VITzl2UVXbxvh5564KTbmFP29fZgFE2li275dXYRDxLbg

The provincial government’s new secularism law is unconstitutional, overreaching and already causing “very grave harm” to minorities in Quebec, a lawyer argued before the Quebec Superior Court on Tuesday.

Arguing on behalf of two civil rights groups, lawyer Catherine McKenzie said the law is trying to solve a problem that doesn’t exist, causing harmful confusion and depriving people of employment or achieving their life goals.

The two groups, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and National Council of Canadian Muslims, are seeking to have the court stay certain sections of the law to allow for further debates on its constitutionality.

Crucifix removed from Salon Bleu of National Assembly

The presence of the crucifix in the Salon Bleu was raised repeatedly during the debate over Quebec's secularism legislation, Bill 21.
https://montrealgazette.com/news/quebec/crucifix-removed-from-salon-bleu-of-national-assembly-after-over-80-years?fbclid=IwAR0lFk49M6iEB3ZHHql5uBvgpxFiByVbehn9y3r4oGfZHeMEMTjoLhcHKgs

Television images broadcast Tuesday morning showed the crucifix in the Salon Bleu of the Quebec National Assembly being removed from above the Speaker’s chair.

The crucifix, which has hung in the legislature since the 1930s, was taken down from the wall by an unidentified official wearing white gloves and then placed on a table.

In March, Immigration, Diversity and Inclusiveness Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette tabled a motion in the National Assembly calling for the crucifix to be removed. The motion stipulated that the office of the National Assembly had been mandated to move the crucifix to another part of the legislature ...

Macpherson: The language of the schoolyard at Riverdale High

At Riverdale High School, the immigrant pupils seemed to be getting along well with the English-speaking ones. Maybe that was the problem.  

https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/macpherson-the-language-of-the-schoolyard-at-riverdale-high?fbclid=IwAR3v1wl9uPXa3YigtHzzLCMDHx9UWvp-TcwmfDNBSCpd4GOU_WtSkmWprXo

Quebec’s official motto is “Je me souviens” — I remember. But sometimes, its political class forgets pretty quickly.

It’s been only two months since Premier François Legault complained to Doug Ford about Ontario’s cancellation of promised funding for a proposed French-language university.

But then, the closing of Riverdale High School in Montreal comes under Quebec’s unofficial motto: C’est pas pareil — It’s not the same ...

CdnPr: Quebec weighing legal options as judge suspends face-covering ban

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-quebec-weighing-legal-options-as-judge-suspends-face-covering-ban/

The Quebec government will wait for its lawyers to study a court decision this week that temporarily suspended a law banning people from covering their faces when receiving or giving a public service before deciding on its next step ...

Section 10 of Quebec’s law on religious neutrality, passed in October 2017, requires everyone to show their faces when receiving or giving a public service ...

Quebec Superior Court Justice Marc-Andre Blanchard ruled Thursday that Section 10 cannot enter into force until it goes through judicial review because of the irreparable harm it will cause Muslim women ...

A judge suspended Section 10 in December 2017 until the government published clear guidelines under which someone could apply for a religious accommodation to the rules ...

The Quebec government published the guidelines in May, and they were set to come into force on July 1 ...

Blanchard ruled the guidelines are not clear enough, and confusion and uncertainty still exists regarding how the accommodation process would be applied ...

[Premier] Couillard wouldn’t concede the law was confusing, instead attacking opposition parties and challenging them to explain how their proposals would stand up to the court test, given they’ve vowed to go even further ...

Fariha Naqvi-Mohamed: Are all French-speakers welcome in Quebec?

Premier François Legault should clarify his comments about wanting more immigrants from France and Europe.

https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/fariha-naqvi-mohamed-are-all-french-speakers-welcome-in-quebec
So it turns out Premier François Legault wants more immigration, after all — or at least, more immigrants from France and Europe, according to comments he made to Le Devoir in the context of his visit this week to  France.

The statements come after Legault campaigned on a promise to reduce immigration to Quebec by 20 per cent. It’s like being told a party you were invited to has been cancelled, but then learning that others are still being invited.

Some have sought to play down the premier’s words, suggesting perhaps he was being polite while in France by extending an invitation to the people there. I don’t buy it for a minute. Not when there is such blatant disrespect for non-white minorities here at home.