Quebec schools confused over new law
Complaints that new law ‘opened the door’ to questions about personal faith
Public schools are struggling to roll out Quebec’s religious symbols ban, leaving some teachers uncertain about whether their religious practice prevents them from working in the province.
“The law didn’t come with instructions. We’re learning day by day how it will be applied,” said Catherine Beauvais-St-Pierre, president of l’Alliance des professeures et professeurs de Montréal.
“We’re learning with each new situation teachers have been faced with . ... (Administrators) are sort of skating by; they may know how the law can be applied but they didn’t tell us ahead of time.”
Beauvais-St-Pierre says one Muslim teacher who applied for a job at a Montreal elementary school last month was warned she had 15 days to remove her hijab or face dismissal.
The law — Bill 21 — prevents public school teachers from wearing religious garb on the job. It is mainly affecting Muslim women, Beauvais-St-Pierre noted.
A grandfather clause allows teachers who wore religious symbols before March 28 to keep their jobs. But even then, confusion reigns on the ground.
“We’re hearing about some of our teachers working in tense conditions, being asked very personal questions about their faith,” Beauvais-St-Pierre said.
“As an employee you have the right to refuse to answer questions about your religion; you have the right to work in a healthy environment. Bosses aren’t supposed to ask their employees religious questions.
“The law has opened the door to these kinds of questions and behaviour.”
Faiza Hussein, who wears a hijab, was teaching at the English Montreal School Board years before the March 28 cutoff but says she still wasn’t sure how the religious symbols ban applied to her.
“All summer I was nervous, wondering if I’d still have a job come September,” said Hussein, who teaches at Sinclair Laird in Park Extension.
“It was an anxiety-filled moment and it still is. I wasn’t sure if you had to be tenured or if it applies to teachers on a one-year contract.
“My colleagues have been really supportive but it’s hard to be constantly reminded that you’re stuck in the middle of this debate.
“When I teach, I don’t impose my religion on the children. (Sinclair Laird) is a culturally diverse school and having a teacher with a hijab simply reflects that diversity. It’s diversity that children will encounter in the real world, so why take it out of their classroom?”
After worrying all summer, Hussein only recently found out the grandfather clause applies to her.
Beauvais-St-Pierre spoke of one hijab-wearing woman who was employed by a Montreal school before March 28 and transferred to a new school this semester. When she arrived at her new job, her boss asked her if she’d always worn the headscarf.
The clause raises another conundrum with regard to substitute teachers. Though Bill 21 was passed six months ago, BeauvaisSt-Pierre says her union found out only recently that substitute teachers can continue wearing the hijab if they were on the job before March 28.
As the application of Bill 21 comes into sharper focus, a coalition of religious and civil liberties groups is waging a court battle to have the law thrown out.
Ordinarily, the law could be challenged on the grounds that it violates a person’s constitutionally protected right to freedom of religion. But the Coalition Avenir Québec government built the notwithstanding clause into Bill 21, nullifying entire sections of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Without the Charter to fall back on, the groups are arguing that the religious symbols ban is impermissibly vague, that it infringes on federal jurisdiction, and that it prevents groups of people from participating in democratic institutions.
The groups’ attempt to have the bill suspended was rejected in Superior Court in July, but an appeal is to be heard in November.
We’re hearing about some of our teachers working in tense conditions, being asked very personal questions about their faith.