Quebecers banned over religious symbols hope court challenge changes secularism laws
CBC
Sabaah Khan started volunteering in the library of the elementary school her four children attend on Montreal’s South Shore eight years ago, when there was a shortage of parent volunteers.
“There wasn't anybody available to come in and open the library, and I didn't want to deprive the kids of that. So I stepped up,” Khan said.
She’s been happily volunteering there ever since, cleaning and cataloguing books, making recommendations and reading to students.
But in January, the Riverside School Board sent an email to all parents, including Khan, that changed everything.
“As a public school board, we are required to comply with Law 29 (Bill 94), which reinforces the principle of secularism in Quebec, namely when it comes to the display of religious symbols,” the email said.
It meant Khan, who wears a hijab, would no longer be welcome at the school library, or be allowed to drive students to basketball tournaments as she has been doing, or to volunteer in any other way at the school.
“After years of doing that, I'm being told not to come in. That was very, very hurtful. I felt really bad,” she said.
“Insisting on the removal of religious attire, it violates my rights, my right to practise my faith, which is considered an essential part of my identity.”
In a statement to CBC, the school board said it was implementing the law with professionalism and care, and trying to ensure its schools continue to be welcoming environments for students and their families.
Bill 94 is an offshoot of Quebec’s original secularism law, Bill 21, which is being challenged before the Supreme Court of Canada next month.
Bill 21 prevents some civil servants, most notably teachers, from wearing religious symbols at work.
Bill 94, adopted last fall, introduced a whole new swath of measures targeting schools: the religious symbols ban is now extended to cover all school employees, students are prohibited from wearing face coverings, and the ban on religious symbols now also applies to parent volunteers at schools.
"In Quebec, we made the decision that the state and religion are separate. And today we say the public schools are separate from religion," former education minister Bernard Drainville said when tabling Bill 94 last March.
The effects of the bill are starting to be felt now, and not just by parent volunteers such as Khan.
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