Quebec secularism, immigration bills pushed through legislature
Laws restrict wearing of religious symbols, toughen immigration rules
QUEBEC— No party would dare reopen Quebec’s secularism bill once it becomes law, Premier François Legault predicted Sunday as his government both it, and the contention immigration bill before the legislature broke for summer recess.
Their legislative majority will almost certainly ensure both bills are passed into law.
Bill 21 will prohibit public servants in positions of authority — including teachers, police officers, Crown prosecutors and prison guards — from wearing religious symbols on the job. It also forbids anyone giving or receiving a state service with their face covered — largely seen as a measure targeting full-face Islamic veils.
Its opponents say the proposed law targets religious minorities while the government argues it affirms the Québécois people’s secular identity.
The legislation includes wording that pre-emptively invokes Section 33 of the Canadian Constitution. As a consequence, no citizen will be able to challenge the bill on grounds it violates fundamental freedoms granted by law.
Legault and his ministers have proclaimed that the bill will go down in history alongside other major pieces of legislation affirming the Québécois nation’s values and way of life, such as the 1977 Charter of the French Language, known as Bill101. The premier said the bill has restored a sense of pride to many Quebecers.
But Pierre Arcand, interim Liberal leader, said Sunday Legault’s legacy will be “this botched bill, that can’t be applied, that violates the rights of minorities. Mr. Premier, we will remember you for this.”
Bill 21 was the second proposed law debated over the weekend. In a 62 to 42 vote, the government used its majority around 4 a.m. Sunday to push through Bill 9, on the province’s immigration system.
Minister of Immigration, Diversity and Inclusiveness Simon Jolin-Barrette’s bill gives the province more authority over who receives permanent residency in the province.
The bill creates a legal framework that allows the government to force newly arrived immigrants to pass a French-language and so-called values test before becoming eligible for permanent residency.
Also contentious is the provision in Bill 9 permitting the government to cancel roughly 18,000 immigration applications — some from people who have waited in limbo for years as their files languished under the old system.