Quebec judge nixes request from Muslim group to suspend ban on school prayer rooms

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association and the National Council of Canadian Muslims have argued that the ban was causing irreparable harm to Muslim students.

A Quebec Superior Court judge has denied a request to suspend the province’s ban on prayer room spaces in public schools.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association and the National Council of Canadian Muslims have argued that the ban was causing irreparable harm to Muslim students. They claim it violates students’ freedom of religion, equality rights and their dignity.

Justice Lukasz Granosik disagreed, ruling Wednesday that the groups did not prove that there was an urgent need to stay the province’s decree while their case is heard on its merits.

Quebec Education Minister Bernard Drainville in April barred public schools from making space available to students for prayer, citing the province’s policy on institutional secularism.

Drainville had said that students would still be allowed to pray discreetly and silently.

But the groups argued that Muslim prayers require physical action and that students had been threatened with disciplinary measures for attempting to pray on school property.

The case was brought on behalf of a 16-year-old Muslim student at a Montreal-area high school who had been given a place to pray during the lunch hour but lost that accommodation following Drainville’s decree. The student’s identity is protected by a publication ban. Sworn statements were also entered into evidence from three other Muslim students who say they also lost the ability to pray at school.