+34
Every Monday for four months, a group of Muslim women have been organizing protests at the premier's office in downtown Montreal. They denounce the widening scope of the province's secularism laws. They're also worried restrictions pertaining to religion could get tighter and more exclusionary.
Every Monday for four months, a group of Muslim women have been organizing protests at the premier's office in downtown Montreal. They denounce the widening scope of the province's secularism laws.
They're also worried restrictions pertaining to religion could get tighter and more exclusionary. The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.
The group Québécoises musulmanes tannées has been meeting outside the premier's downtown Montreal office every Monday since June to protest laws 21, 94 and 9. That's what comes to mind for Asma Boumar when it comes the widening scope of Quebec’s secularism laws. Over the last seven years, the provincial government passed a series of laws — bills 21, 94 and 9 — prohibiting public servants from wearing religious symbols at work.
One moment, she says, she was employed at a school and able to wear religious symbols in the workplace. The next, she had lost that right, was out of a job and fighting to return to work. Voters both for and against the province’s secularism laws say party leaders haven’t talked much about where they stand on the issue during the campaign. They want to hear what the parties have to say before they cast their ballot.
Every monday for the last four months, Boumar has been protesting outside the premier's downtown Montreal office with a group calledThe group will do one more sit-in this Monday, the same day voters head to the polls to elect Quebec’s next government. Boumar is bracing for what she expects will be further encroachment by the state into how she chooses to exist as a Muslim woman.
"Unfortunately, the targets are always the same; it is always the same category of citizens," she said. Boumar was working as an educator when she agreed in the fall of 2025 to take on a second role and replace a teacher at her school. It was the same year Bill 94 became provincial law and barred all school support staff — not just teachers — from wearing religious symbols.
A few months later, her school service centre told her that because she had taken on a new role, she was no longer exempt from the law. Boumar’s decade-long stint at the school came to an end soon after.
“Today it is this law; tomorrow, we don't know who else might face injustice if we don't speak up now. ”The Supreme Court of Canada is expected issue an historic ruling this fall on the province’s original religious symbols law. Paul St-Pierre Plamondon of the Parti Québécois, the party favoured to form the next government, has said he would oppose any Supreme Court decision that invalidated key elements of Bill 21.
Quebec Liberal Leader Charles Milliard has said he wouldn’t modify the secularism laws if his party was elected, instead waiting on the Supreme Court to lay down the ground rules. Coalition Avenir Québec Leader Christine Fréchette, whose party passed those laws, has maintained the notwithstanding clause, which protects those secularism laws from legal challenges, is vital to Quebec’s democracy. Boumar said she wonders whether she has any viable option at the ballot box on Monday to have her voice heard.
PQ Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon has said his party, if elected, would be ready to oppose any unfavourable Supreme Court decision as it pertains to Bill 21. Mouna Bordji, another member of the group and former early childhood educator assistant, says it feels like those in power are avoiding talking about the impact these laws have had on women like her during this election.
She says she's been jobless since April when Bill 9 — which expanded the ban on religious symbols to daycare workers and set limits on public prayer — came into effect. Since then, she's struggled to find work both inside and outside her field, and has had to rely on her husband's salary. She spends part of her Mondays standing outside the office building on Sherbrooke Street.
W. surrounded by allies and women in the same predicament.say that despite requesting a meeting with current premier Fréchette, no one from her office has heard them out. She did not return a request for comment for this story. The leaders of Quebec's five major parties were recent guests on the popular Radio-Canada talk show Tout le monde en parle.
A proposal from the far-right National Rally party to ban Muslim women from wearing the hijab in public has sparked a controversy in France, a country whose secularism model has served as a blueprint for Quebec legislators.
“Wearing the hijab in public, yes or no? ” host Guy A. Lepage asked the party leaders, who needed to answer by either raising a “for” or “against” sign. The next day, he chalked up his hesitation to misunderstanding the question and insisted his platform shouldn’t be judged on the basis of a television segment that “was about having fun.
” "Look up our platform and there's no question of forbidding religious signs in public, it's never even been discussed," he said. During a Sept. 27 episode of Radio-Canada's Tout le monde en parle, host Guy A. Lepage asks the leaders of the five major parties in Quebec about people wearing the hijab in public and whether that should be allowed.
“ was the real thing – what he was actually thinking,” she said. “The next day is when wisdom kicks in; that is, we reflect on our actions. ” Human rights lawyer Pearl Eliadis says the PQ leader’s choice to abstain was consistent with the party’s shift to the right that would make its founder, René Lévesque, “turn over in his grave.
” Eliadis also pointed to a comment by Fréchette earlier this week qualifying her decision to prioritize "Quebecers" when allocating subsidized daycare spots as a feminist one, despite the fact that it flies in the face of recent Supreme Court ruling.
“This is about playing to an exclusionary ethno-nationalism that I think is contrary to everything Quebec and Canada stand for,” said Eliadis. Nora Ben Mohamed says her daughter's internship as a psychologist was put on hold given her employability in the education sector depends on what comes out of the Supreme Court decision on Quebec's use of the notwithstanding clause.
Why some say Quebec politicians helped fuel the racism they unanimously denounced She says she has several family members – her daughter, her cousin – whose future hinges on the Supreme Court’s decision expected to drop in the coming months. Her group fears those restrictions could only get tighter, more exclusionary. And from their perspective, all of it is uncalled for.
“We see secularism differently,” said Boumar. “Secularism is state neutrality; it’s not up to the state to butt into people’s choices in attire, in the convictions of others. ”
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News: You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
After an outfield collision left him paralyzed, every gain in rehab is a big win for A’s Ryan LaskoTwenty-four-year-old is determined to gain independence as he recovers from two fractured vertebrae
Read more »
Farmers Are Asking More Of Every MachineSouth Africa’s tractor sales fell sharply in July. The result is greater pressure on every machinery decision – and every asset already carrying the work of the farm. South Africa recorded sales of 517 tractors in July 2026 – 31% fewer than a year earlier.
Read more »
Quebec election: Parti Québécois confident of Monday win as leader seeks majorityThe Parti Québécois is increasingly confident of winning Monday's Quebec election as its leader aims to secure a majority, with Tom Mulcair warning the vote matters to all Canadians.
Read more »
‘At every turn she was failed’: NY Governor defends accuser in alleged Cornell sexual assault caseWatch ‘At every turn she was failed’: NY Governor defends accuser in alleged Cornell sexual assault case Video Online, on GlobalNews.ca
Read more »