UNSETTLING LAW, UNUSUAL DEMO
The adoption of Bill 62, the Quebec government’s widely condemned “religious neutrality” law, quickly became one of the signature news stories of 2017.
Politicians and critics near and far questioned the law’s wisdom, its applicability and whether or not it could withstand a court challenge.
Among the populace, though, especially in resolutely multicultural Montreal, opposition to Bill 62 was much more passionate. Many critics saw the law — particularly the section that would bar people from giving or receiving public services with their faces covered — as an infringement on the rights of devout Muslim women, one of the only groups in Quebec to regularly wear face coverings in public. The law, according to the Quebec government, would force these women to remove their niqabs or burkas just to take a city bus.
Now, a traditional demonstration against Bill 62 with signs and sloganeering would not have qualified as an “Only in Montreal” moment. However, a creative protest held Oct. 20 definitely qualified.
A small group of protesters, all with their faces covered by various scarves, masks and shades, lined Parc Ave. to take the No. 80 bus in symbolic protest of the law and in solidarity with those who would be affected by it.
“We think (Bill 62) is inhibiting people from practising the freedoms they have as Canadians,” one protester told the Montreal Gazette. “This law is targeting specific people and cultures, which is not fair.”
In a fittingly absurd twist, the STM announced it would discipline a bus driver who covered his own face and honked in support of the protesters.
Postscript: This month, a Quebec Superior Court judge issued a temporary stay on the section of Bill 62 that prohibits face coverings until the province comes up with a framework in which people affected by the law can apply for accommodation on religious grounds.