Ski masks, scarves and Batman at Bill 62 protest

Surrounded by a heavy but discreet police presence, about 30 demonstrators stationed themselves outside the Parc métro station early Friday to protest against Bill 62, provincial legislation that among other things forbids using public transit if one’s face is covered.

“We think (Bill 62) is inhibiting people from practising the freedoms they have as Canadians,” said Catherine, a 28-year-old student and community activist who didn’t want to provide her last name. “This law is targeting specific people and cultures, which is not fair.”

Bill 62, adopted by the Couillard government on Wednesday, forbids the offering or receiving of public services with a covered face. While the government has said the law is an expression of Quebec’s secularism, critics have charged that not only is the law unconstitutional, but targets Muslim women who wear face veils or other items that cover their face.

The 30 or so demonstrators at the Parc métro station were greeted by half a dozen Montreal police patrol vans stationed around the station’s perimeter. The demonstrators, some carrying placards, covered their faces with scarves, ski masks and in one case, a hot pink ninja mask — while a child brought to the demonstration showed up in a Batman cowl.

The protest, while apparently anchored to the Parc métro station, was also deployed along some of the passenger stops of the southbound 80 bus route. And commuters riding along Parc Ave. at Mont-Royal Ave., St-Viateur St. and Bernard Ave. saw similar protests.

Kathryn Jezer-Morton, a co-organizer of the demonstration, said the idea for the protest came within hours of Bill 62 being adopted.

“We’re not activists in the sense that we’ve done this sort of thing before, but we wanted to show solidarity with people that would be affected by the niqab (face veil) ban.”

But even as protesters decry a face covering ban on the bus and métro, public transit officials in Quebec are grappling with how, if at all, they’ll be expected to enforce it.

An association representing the province’s transit authorities has made it clear no enforcement of the ban will take place until the Couillard government explains what it expects Quebec’s public transit corporations to do.