quebec to Expand Secularism law with Ban on Prayer Rooms, religious Meals
Quebec’s government is set to introduce legislation Thursday that will broaden the scope of its secularism rules, including prohibiting prayer rooms in universities adn CEGEPs and restricting religion-based meal options in public institutions. Radio-Canada confirmed the details of the upcoming bill, initially reported by TVA and Le journal de Montréal.
The proposed law will also ban religious symbols in communications from public bodies and extend the requirement for uncovered faces to the public and subsidized daycare system. Public institutions will be barred from offering diets exclusively based on religious tradition. While religious practices will be banned in all public institutions,exceptions will be made for residential settings,and public prayer will be allowed under certain conditions.
This builds upon Bill 21, enacted in 2019, which prohibits certain public employees - including teachers, police officers, and judges – from wearing religious symbols such as hijabs, kippahs, turbans, and crosses. That law also restricts face coverings for those in authority,with medical exceptions.
In October, the government adopted Bill 94, extending the religious symbol ban to all those interacting with students in schools and prohibiting students from wearing face coverings. Existing employees under Bill 94 retain an exemption,but it applies only to those hired or promoted before March of this year,when the bill was tabled.
A committee previously recommended 50 changes to Bill 21 in August, focused on strengthening secularism within the province.
