With the announcement of a new committee on secularism, the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government is poised to tighten restrictions on religious expression, especially through the expansion of Bill 21—a 2019 law barring public employees from wearing religious symbols—and a potential ban on public prayer. The CAQ committee will assess[Read More…]
Tag: Bill 21
Interfaith panel unpacks impacts of Bill 21 and discrimination in Quebec
On March 10, students and legal professionals convened in New Chancellor Day Hall for a conference titled “Law & Faith: Bill 21 and Religious Discrimination.” The event, put on by the McGill Christian Law Students’ Association (CLSA), the McGill Jewish Law Students’ Association (JLSA), and the McGill Muslim Law Students’[Read More…]
Targeting Elghawaby is a bigoted political play
On Jan. 26, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed Amira Elghawaby as the country’s first federal representative on combating Islamophobia. Within mere days of her appointment, various politicians and Members of Parliament began calling for the resignation of the Canadian journalist, communications professional, and human rights activist. Elghawaby was accused[Read More…]
Bill 21 hearings conclude, reinvigorate outrage from members of McGill community
Nov. 16 marked the final day of hearings against Bill 21 at the Court of Appeal of Quebec in Montreal. The legislation has faced controversy because it prohibits people employed in the public sector from wearing visible religious symbols at work and preemptively invoked the notwithstanding clause. Over five non-consecutive[Read More…]
‘Living with Law 21’ panel tells personal narratives of Bill 21’s multifarious impacts
On June 16, 2019, the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government implemented Bill 21, which banned public sector employees from wearing religious symbols at work. Since then, many McGill students and staff have critiqued the secularism the Act purports to uphold, drawing particular attention to its effect on racial and gender[Read More…]
Carving fish in the sand
Every time I’m in the lecture hall analyzing a poem, I’m of two minds. On the one hand, as an English student, I am thinking of the poem as a critic would—sifting and weighing the words. But on the other hand, I am reading as a Christian, conscious of every[Read More…]
Changing the narrative
I have a go-to answer when someone asks how I speak English so well, despite it not being my mother tongue: “I consume a lot of Western media.” Despite the benefits of this habit, that short phrase also encompasses the constant struggle of disentangling my self-worth from the harmful messages[Read More…]
Bill 21 is guilty as charged
The Quebec Superior Court began hearing testimony on Nov. 2 in a civil case against Bill 21, a 2019 policy that prohibits certain public sector employees from wearing religious symbols in the workplace. Although the plaintiffs contend that the Bill violates certain fundamental rights protected under the Canadian Charter of[Read More…]
McGill student Coalition Against Bill 21 calls for repeal of secularism law
McGill University students gathered to sit-in against Quebec’s Bill 21 outside the Montreal courthouse on Nov. 2. Organized by Non à la Loi 21, the McGill Muslim Law Students’ Association, RadLaw McGill, and the Muslim Student Association at McGill, the peaceful demonstrations took place at 8:00 a.m., promptly before the[Read More…]
White activists—stop hijacking social movements
The future Black, Indigenous, and other people of colour (BIPOC) imagine for themselves is always in relation to their present-day lived experiences. Since June 2019, students have been expressing their discontent with Bill 21—McGill students consistently rally for climate justice, but the campus’s attention is not given to all causes.[Read More…]
