Quebec committee to look at how to strengthen secularism, possible public prayer ban

The Quebec government has announced a new committee to make recommendations on how to strengthen secularism in the province, including by possibly restricting public prayer.

Amid a flurry of concern over religious practices emerging in Quebec public schools, Jean-François Roberge, the minister responsible for secularism in Quebec, said the committee will "document the phenomenon of infiltration of religious influences" in all public institutions.

He said the committee will also look at what can be done to prevent people from praying in public streets and parks, including during protests — something Quebec Premier François Legault has said he wants to ban.

Roberge said the committee's recommendations could lead to changes to Quebec's secularism law, Bill 21, or to new policies and regulations. Bill 21 bans public employees like teachers and police officers from wearing religious symbols on the job.

"We will do what is necessary to protect ourselves against religious influences and strengthen the secularism of the state," Roberge said during a Monday news conference in Montreal.

He said the situation at Bedford elementary school in Montreal, where the government reported last fall on a toxic climate created by a group of teachers, was the "canary in the coal mine" that highlighted the need to study whether secularism rules are being respected.

A government report published last October found the group of teachers, many of North African descent, had imposed autocratic rule at the school. It found that teachers yelled at and humiliated students. Subjects like science and sex education were either ignored or barely taught, and girls were prevented from playing soccer.

"It was a wake-up call," Roberge said. "There's no smoke without fire."

A subsequent investigation into 17 other Quebec schools found few breaches of the secularism law, but did note that some teachers are adjusting course material so as not to offend religious beliefs.

Those investigations have prompted Education Minister Bernard Drainville to promise new legislation to strengthen secularism in schools. He has suggested the religious symbols ban could be extended to school staff other than teachers.

On Monday, Roberge said Drainville will likely table his bill this spring. Meanwhile, the committee will complement Drainville's work by examining all public institutions to determine if Bill 21 "is well-understood, is well-applied, both in its spirit and in its letter," he said.

The committee will be headed by two lawyers: Christiane Pelchat, former president of Quebec's council on the status of women, and Guillaume Rousseau, a law professor at Université de Sherbrooke.

They will study measures in place elsewhere in the world to reinforce state secularism, and will deliver a report by Aug. 20.

Roberge said they will go beyond public institutions to examine whether the government can take action on prayer in public places as well. He pointed to instances of Muslims blocking streets by kneeling to pray during pro-Palestinian protests in Montreal last year, which he said made people uneasy.