Injustice in Quebec shouldn’t pass unnoticed

Amid the flurry of major stories bursting into the news last week, it was understandable that Canadians didn’t pay more attention to a highly disturbing court ruling in Quebec when it first came down.

The federal budget, ever more COVID-19 turmoil and the conviction of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin all distracted the public’s gaze from the Quebec Superior Court decision to uphold almost all of the blatantly discriminatory law known as Bill 21. Yet, that oversight — which seems ongoing — is not just a pity, it’s a national embarrassment.

The law bans the wearing of religious clothing or symbols in the workplace by police officers, teachers, government lawyers and many others the Quebec government defines as people in positions of authority. New hires must remove religious attire such as head scarves, turbans or kippas. People already employed by the government can keep wearing such attire, but will not be promoted or transferred to another government job.

Ever since this unnecessary “secularism” law was introduced in 2019, religious minorities, especially Muslim women, have bitterly complained that Bill 21 forces them to choose between practising their faith as they think they must or working in the job to which they feel called. Many of them have abandoned Quebec to work elsewhere in Canada where they needn’t make such a wrenching decision and don’t feel singled out.

Justice Marc-André Blanchard didn’t mince words in declaring Bill 21 has “a cruel consequence that dehumanizes those it targets.” Nor did he hesitate to confirm what pretty much everyone who had tuned in already knew. On almost every count, Bill 21 violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms — and Quebec’s equivalent.

But because the Quebec government used the Canadian Constitution’s blanket override power known as the notwithstanding clause, Justice Blanchard had no choice but to uphold most of Bill 21. No one should blame him for bowing to the highest law in the land. To his credit, he did exempt from Bill 21 members of Quebec’s National Assembly, as well as teachers in the province’s English-language school system. They enjoy constitutional rights that can’t be trampled by the notwithstanding clause.

While Quebec Premier François Legault predictably railed against even this limitation on Bill 21, the relative silence of other Canadian leaders was more striking. Justice Blanchard’s ruling came on the very day that the Minneapolis court found Chauvin guilty of murdering George Floyd, a Black man, by kneeling on his neck until he could no longer breathe. Many Canadians rejoiced that a white, former police officer, will be held accountable for a tragic, excessive use of force. Indeed, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed the feelings of many Canadians when he called the verdict “good news.”

“Systemic discrimination continues,” he said, adding that he believes the outrage over Floyd’s death has created “huge momentum” to transform societies so that they are “fairer and more inclusive for everyone.” While that struck to the heart of the Chauvin trial, it was ironic Trudeau would not denounce what is so clearly systemic discrimination in Canada, something that is neither fair nor inclusive. Asked if his government might intervene to protect the rights of Quebec’s religious minorities, Trudeau replied only: “We’re not there.”

At a time when this country is so determined to root out and eliminate systemic discrimination of all kinds, it is disappointing the prime minister and as well, Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole, will not do more about Bill 21. Someone in a position of power needs to challenge a law that violates the principles of freedom, equality, diversity and tolerance upon which this country is based.