Simon Jolin-Barrette says it’s not right that Quebec taxpayer money should go towards fighting a law most people in the province support
Immigration Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette speaks during question period Thursday, December 5, 2019 at the legislature in Quebec City. Quebec's immigration minister is denouncing federal funding reportedly granted to a group contesting the province’s secularism law in court.Quebec’s immigration minister is denouncing federal funding reportedly granted to a group contesting the province’s secularism law in court.
The Montreal Gazette reports the English Montreal School Board received $250,000 from the federal government’s Court Challenges Program to mount legal challenges against two provincial laws, including the controversial religious symbols law known as Bill 21.The program, which the Trudeau government reinstated in 2017, provides financial support to groups bringing human rights or language-related cases of national significance before the courts.
Jolin-Barrette says $125,000 of the funding granted to the school board was for a legal challenge to the secularism law, which prevents some civil servants in positions of authority, including teachers, from wearing religious symbols on the job. The second sum was reportedly in order to contest the transfer of two schools to another school board.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has repeatedly said he doesn’t agree with a government telling people how to dress, but has said the federal government would not intervene in any legal challenges at this stage.“That’s $125,000 of Canadian taxpayers’ money, including Quebecers’, for a law that Quebecers want. Is Mr. Trudeau in agreement?” Jolin-Barrette said.“The federal government must answer whether it agrees with this use of the program.
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