The proposed law, scheduled to be tabled Thursday, will bar workers in a ‘position of authority’ from wearing religious symbols on the job, including teachers, judges and police officers
The Quebec government will pre-emptively invoke the notwithstanding clause to prevent charter challenges of a proposed law that will bar key provincial employees from wearing Muslim headscarves and other symbols of religious observance.
The last time it was used, in 2017, Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall invoked it to override a court ruling that would have removed funding for non-Catholic students attending Catholic schools. “But I think there are reasons the law wouldn’t pass constitutional muster that the government should take very seriously,” he said. “I think there’s no valid objective and the means chosen are disproportionate and will harm some people without producing much of a benefit.”
Polls have shown the government has the support of a majority of Quebeckers to enact new legislation that would be in line with the recommendations of the 2008 Bouchard-Taylor Commission, which suggested limiting the wearing of religious symbols among specific classes of provincial employees.Mr. Trudeau denounced the use of the notwithstanding clause when the Ontario government was set to use it last year in relation to changes to the municipal election process.
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