By It’s a move that has shocked both Christians and Muslims. Québec’s government moved Thursday to widen the reach of its secularism regime, unveiling legislation that would push restrictions on religious expression well beyond the public-sector frontline and into the daily life of institutions that rely on provincial support. The proposal, tabled as Bill 9, would extend the logic of the province’s 2019 Law 21—already one of the most sweeping secularism laws in North America—by broadening bans on religious symbols, face coverings, and public religious practice to a far larger share of Québec’s civic landscape.
Formally titled “An Act respecting the reinforcement of laicity in Québec,” Bill 9 preserves the core tenet of Law 21, which barred teachers, police officers, judges, and other authority-figure employees from wearing visible religious symbols or face coverings on duty. But it redraws the perimeter of the state’s secular expectations. Under the new measure, employees at early-childhood centers, subsidized private schools, and private health-care facilities operating under agreement with the province would be subject to the same prohibitions. Students in universities, colleges, and childcare facilities would likewise be required to keep their faces uncovered while receiving services.
The legislation also ventures into public space itself, noted The Daily Caller. A distinct clause bars the use of parks, roads, or squares “for the purposes of collective religious practice without the authorization of the municipality.” Secularism Minister Jean-François Roberge, defending the provision, said it was prompted by unauthorized prayers during pro-Palestinian protests. “It’s shocking to see people blocking traffic, taking possession of the public space without a permit, without warning, and then turning our streets, our parks, our public squares into places of worship,” Roberge said.
While that language is expected to bear most heavily on Muslim congregational prayers, the broader symbol restrictions reach across communities: kippahs, turbans, large crucifixes, and other religious markers worn by Jews, Sikhs, Christians, and adherents of other faiths would be prohibited in the newly covered workplaces.
Bill 9 also layers on a set of structural changes that further tighten the state’s grip on the intersection of religion and public funding. The proposal would phase out financial support for private religious schools that teach doctrine or make faith-based selections of students and staff. Institutions receiving public money would be barred from offering exclusively halal, kosher, or other religiously mandated meals in their catering services. And the threshold for denying religious accommodations—on matters such as dress, prayer breaks, or dietary needs—would fall from “undue hardship” to “more than minimal hardship,” giving employers wider latitude to refuse such requests.
Fully aware of the legal storm likely to follow, the government has again turned to the notwithstanding clause, a constitutional mechanism allowing provinces to override certain Charter protections for up to five years. That shield is intended to forestall immediate challenges under both the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Québec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms.
The National Assembly voted 92–0 to introduce the bill, sending it to committee for detailed scrutiny and possible amendment before a final vote. The unanimity belies the divide already forming around the proposal: opponents warn that the measures fall most heavily on religious minorities—particularly Muslim women who wear the hijab or niqab—while supporters insist they are essential to preserving the neutrality of the state and its public spaces.
It’s another reminder: Canada is not anything like the United States of America.
[Read More: J6 Pipe Bomber Arrested, Ideology Revealed]
