The Coalition Avenir Quebec government will table its secularism bill today, fulfilling an election promise to prohibit many public sector employees, including teachers, from wearing religious symbols at work.
But even before the text is made public, one school board has declared its intention to disobey a law that it says will violate the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Legault has signalled today's bill will pre-emptively invoke the charter's notwithstanding clause to block court challenges that invoke rights violations. The government counters that it won a mandate last October to introduce the legislation, which it says is supported by a majority of Quebecers. Civil rights groups and religious organizations argue the bill is primarily aimed at Muslim women who wear the hijab.
"This proposed legislation would be contrary to the values the EMSB teaches its children, in particular, values of diversity, acceptance, tolerance and respect for individual rights and religious freedoms," Feldman said in a statement.
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Tobacco company gets creditor protection in $15B Quebec lawsuitRothmans, Benson & Hedges has become the third tobacco company to receive a temporary reprieve from compensating 100,000 Quebec smokers after securing creditor protection in an Ontario court on Friday.
Read more »
Safety recall sidelines hundreds of buses in QuebecQuebec bus manufacturer Nova Bus has recalled 600 hybrid models over a steering issue, affecting transit authorities across the province.
Read more »
Steering problem forces authorities to pull more than 600 Quebec buses off the roadNova Bus ordered immediate inspections after finding a fault with the power steering in hybrid buses delivered between 2016 and 2019 to operators in the province’s nine largest cities
Read more »
Federal government to spend $400K compensating residents of rural Quebec road for asylum seeker disruptionNearly 42,000 asylum seekers have entered Canada from the U.S. between official ports of entry since 2017, and 96% of those have come across at Roxham Road
Read more »
Canadian cross-country skiing great Alex Harvey prepares to cap career with Quebec City homecomingThe World Cup starting Friday in Quebec City is both a homecoming and a swan song for arguably the best cross-country skier Canada has ever produced
Read more »
Expensive promises expected to be kept in Quebec budgetAfter five months in power, Francois Legault's Coalition Avenir Quebec government will lay out its true priorities today as it tables its first budget.
Read more »
CAQ tables balanced budget with money for expanding kindergarten, keeping head offices in QuebecThe Quebec government set aside $1-billion in its budget to encourage strategically important business to keep head offices in the province, a measure that could protect the Montreal executive suites of SNC-Lavalin
Read more »
Quebec taxi drivers clog streets to protest government's industry overhaulQuebec's transport minister is defending his plan to overhaul the province's taxi industry as drivers across the province strike in protest.
Read more »
Quebec taxi drivers denounce industry overhaul they say will force them into bankruptcyTransport Minister Francois Bonnardel tabled Bill 17 last week in an attempt to modernize the province’s taxi industry, which like many across the world, has been upended by competitors such as Uber
Read more »