Quebec’s Bill 21 (An Act respecting the laicity of the State), enacted in June 2019, bans public sector workers such as teachers, police officers, judges and persons in health services and social services from wearing symbols such as crosses, hijabs, Jewish skull caps or kippas, turbans or yarmulkes at work. The bill also applied to members of Quebec’s National Assembly. Quebec’s government claims that Bill 21 was enacted to ensure ‘secularism’ (separation of state from church) in almost all publicly-funded services. This past week, a young third grade Muslim teacher, Fatemeh Anvari, was removed from her class in Chelsea, Quebec, after it was determined by the school board that her hijab contravened Quebec’s religious symbols law. Although not the first case of such outright discrimination, this particular event caused outrage not only in the affected community, but also in the rest of Canada. The Prime Minister has not ruled out some sort of legal action by the federal government against Bill 21, setting up an eventual showdown with the province.
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) has argued that Canadians should not be forced to make the choice between their religion, their identity and their profession. The provincial government should not be allowed to impose their beliefs on the people of Quebec, nor should they be dictating to individuals what they can and cannot wear. The CCLA goes on to declare that people who choose to wear religions garments should also have a right to freedom of expression and religion, and to make their own choices without government interference.
In April 2021, a Quebec Superior Court’s decision was critical of Bill 21, but because the Quebec legislature used the infamous ‘notwithstanding clause’ in Canada’s constitution to override other Charter of Rights and Freedoms protections, the law remains valid. The court noted that Bill 21 also sends the message to minority students wearing religious symbols that they must occupy a different place in society and that obviously the way of public education, at the level of preschool, primary and secondary does not exist for them. The Quebec government has already announced it plans to appeal the court’s ruling on the contentious parts.
The case of Fatemeh Anvari reminds me a little of that of Tarek el-Tayeb Mohamed Bouazizi, a simple street vendor, who set himself on fire on December 17, 2010 in Ben Arous, Tunisia. This one event became a catalyst for the Tunisian Revolution and eventually the wider Arab Spring against autocratic regimes in a series of anti-government protests, uprisings, and armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. His self-immolation was in response to the confiscation of his wares and livelihood and the harassment and humiliation inflicted on him by a municipal official and her aides, as well as his desire for political freedoms. Now, no one is saying that Anvari’s dismissal is as politically significant, but comments by Quebec Premier, François Legault, that: “The school board should not have hired this person as a teacher in the first place given Bill 21”, further angered Canadians and some Quebecers. When an ‘exclusionist’ law affects the rights of individuals in terms of their livelihoods and freedom to practice their religion, many people are beginning to take notice of the injustice. Premier Legault has said that he feels Bill 21 represents a reasonable compromise, since nothing will stop public employees from wearing religious symbols in their private lives. Just don’t do it at work or else!
Since 2019, demonstrations have been held in Quebec in protest of Bill 21 and its impact on the rights of Quebecers, especially minority groups. Representatives from the Catholic and Anglican dioceses, Montreal’s board of Rabbis, the United Church of Canada, the Canadian Muslim Alliance and the World Sikh Organization of Canada attended several protests. With the most recent incident involving Fatemeh Anvari, more protests are now expected not only in Quebec but across Canada. Perhaps this highly emotive moment represents Quebec’s ‘catalyst’ equivalent to the start of the ‘Arab Spring’. Only time will tell.
FROLITICKS 
Leave a comment