Banning prayer in public: legal experts sound alarm on Legault's threat to use notwithstanding clause
CTV
Legal experts say the increasing tendency of provincial premiers to use the notwithstanding clause is a worrying trend that disregards the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
When Quebec Premier François Legault publicly vowed to put a stop to praying in public places, he said he could once again turn to a rare legal tool to put the measure into law.
It's called the notwithstanding clause, and it can be used to shield laws from legal challenges over violations of fundamental rights.
Legal experts say the increasing tendency of provincial premiers to use it, however, is a worrying trend that disregards the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
"The notwithstanding clause has to be used only in the case of an emergency with very, you know, important issues. You cannot use that just like that, just for fun, just to score some political points, right? And this is what we're seeing right now," said Frédéric Bérard, a constitutional lawyer and partner at GBM Lawyers, in an interview on Monday.
Legault made the surprising comments about prayer last Friday on the last day of the fall legislative session, after reacting to a La Presse report that a high school north of Montreal was allowing praying in classrooms and hallways, as well as the disruption of a play on sexually transmitted infections and pregnancy prevention.
"There are teachers who are bringing Islamist religious concepts into Quebec schools," he told reporters in Quebec City. "I will definitely not tolerate that. We don't want that in Quebec."
The premier went a step further, saying he is promising to also ban prayers in public spaces, such as parks and streets, and that his government is "looking at all possibilities, including the use of the notwithstanding clause."
