Geneviève Guilbault says the ban on wearing religious symbols in some public-sector situations is a law and police can enforce it
Quebec Deputy premier and Public Security Minister Genevieve Guilbault responds to the Opposition during question period on Dec. 4, 2018 at the legislature in Quebec City.Quebec’s Deputy Premier says citizens who see municipalities or school boards failing to apply the province’s proposed secular dress code can call the police to have the law enforced.
Several Montreal-area municipalities and school boards say they would not enforce a ban on religiously symbolic garments such as the turban, kippa, hijab and crucifix from being worn by people in positions of authority, including teachers and police officers.The brewing resistance led to questions on Tuesday about how the government could enforce the law, which would contain no punitive measures.
Mr. Legault later told reporters some of his rookie cabinet ministers were getting carried away answering hypothetical questions. “We hope we won’t have to take steps to force people to respect the law. I won’t say what those steps could be,” Mr. Legault said. “We shouldn’t be talking about that. Quebeckers know there are means to force respect for the law.”
Most of the people who would be affected are Muslim teachers who wear headscarves. The English Montreal School Board was among the first public organizations to say it would not abide by the law. Other boards and several municipalities, particularly on the west side of Montreal Island, where anglophones and immigrant communities predominate, joined in.
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