Quebec chief justice postpones speech
Judge accused of showing bias against Bill 21
MONTREAL • Quebec’s chief justice, who is hearing a case seeking a suspension of the province’s secularism law, will no longer be speaking to an association of Jewish lawyers in Montreal following allegations of bias.
The Lord Reading Law Society announced late Tuesday it and Chief Justice Nicole Duval Hesler mutually decided to postpone her speech scheduled for Dec. 10 because the society is involved in a separate court challenge to the secularism law, known as Bill 21.
Duval Hesler’s scheduled talk on how to avoid conflicts of interest at the Quebec Court of Appeal was one element of a complaint filed against her at the Canadian Judicial Council by a Montreal junior college history teacher.
Frédéric Bastien also complained to the council that while presiding over a Bill 21 case last week the chief justice declared herself a feminist and suggested opposition to the province’s secularism law results from “visual allergies” to seeing women in a hijab.
Bastien, a Bill 21 supporter who has stated he is considering a run for the leadership of the Parti Québécois, said Monday judges should keep their personal opinions to themselves when hearing cases.
He asked the council to investigate Duval Hesler for her comments and for her planned speech to the law society, which he said left the impression she was a partisan judge with a bias against Bill 21.
The law prohibits some public sector workers, including teachers and police officers, from wearing religious symbols at work, and Duval Hesler is one of three judges hearing an appeal from groups seeking to have components of the law suspended while their full legal challenge is heard.
The Lord Reading Law Society had filed an intervention in another court challenge to the law, brought by three women teachers.
The society also submitted a brief to a legislature committee last April, which stated Bill 21 “has no reason to exist and, in fact, will create and worsen divisions in Quebec …”
The chief justice’s actions have drawn divided reactions from academics, with some defending her and others saying she went too far. A judicial council spokeswoman said Monday 30 people had contacted the office with concerns about Duval Hesler following news of Bastien’s complaint.