MONTREAL — During this election season, the Quebec Observatory on Racial Inequalities (OIRQ), the Observatory for Migrant Justice (OPLJM), the Quebec Women’s Federation (FFQ), the League for Rights and Freedoms (LDL), the Team for Inclusion and Ethnocultural Diversity in Education (IDEÉ), and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) co-authored a statement denouncing the outgoing government’s instrumentalisation of secularism.
The 146 organizations and 1,937 individuals who have endorsed the statement so far affirm their commitment to state secularism, gender equality, and human rights. However, the signatories reject the government’s misuse of secularism to exclude Quebecers, particularly Muslim women who wear religious symbols, from entire sectors of public life.
They point out that bills 21, 94, and 9 have caused many female workers to lose their jobs, barred students from certain professions, and prevented parents from participating in their children’s schools. These laws have also exacerbated an already acute labor shortage in education and early childhood systems, negatively impacting the entire population as well as future generations.
The signatories are calling on the leaders of all political parties to commit to promoting a conception of secularism that respects human rights, as well as to repeal Bills 21, 94, and 9 should their party form the next government.
Quotes:
“By excluding Muslim women who wear religious symbols from large parts of public life, the outgoing government has distorted the concept of secularism into a tool of exclusion. Leaders of all political parties should distance themselves from this shameful legacy by committing to repeal bills 21, 94 and 9 and instead embrace a conception of secularism that respects human rights,” said Anaïs Bussières McNicoll, Quebec spokesperson and Director of Fundamental Freedoms at the CCLA.
“The outgoing government has set Quebec on an ethno-nationalist path by exploiting gender equality and secularism for the purpose of exclusion. This logic primarily targets immigrants, particularly Muslim women. It is contradictory to recruit from French-speaking, Muslim-majority countries to fill low-paying ‘care’ jobs only to shut the door on employment opportunities once they arrive. We call on the government that will be elected to commit to respecting the fundamental rights enshrined in the Quebec and Canadian charters and to repeal these laws,” said Amel Zaazaa, Director of the Observatory for Migrant Justice.
“Beyond the curriculum, schools play a role in students’ socialization by teaching them how to live together, engage in civic participation, and practice democracy. How can schools fulfill their mission when the government requires them to treat people differently based on their religion, language, or gender? The next government must reverse this policy so that Quebec schools can be places of inclusion, not exclusion,” said researchers from the Inclusion and Ethnocultural Diversity in Education (IDEÉ) Team.
“When a government turns Muslim women’s choice to wear a religious symbol into a matter of state, it sends a message to society as a whole: their bodies and their beliefs become legitimate objects of control and suspicion. By instrumentalising secularism, the outgoing government has fostered a toxic social climate where misogyny and Islamophobia feed off one another, and it is these women who pay the price every day. An intersectional feminist perspective leaves no room for doubt: one cannot claim to defend women’s equality while excluding certain women,” said Sara Arsenault, policy director at the Québec Women’s Federation.
“The laws passed by the government since 2019 are leading us away from true secularism. They neither guarantee freedom of worship and religion nor ensure the state’s religious neutrality. Quite the contrary! Notwithstanding clauses protect these laws from challenges, allowing them to openly flout several rights recognized in charters and international law. These laws disproportionately target and discriminate against certain non-Catholic communities, particularly Muslim women. In the context of the upcoming election, it is urgent to demand that political parties commit to repealing these discriminatory laws and to defending an inclusive vision of secularism based on respect for the rights of Quebec’s entire population,” said Paul-Etienne Rainville, policy director at the League of Rights and Freedoms.
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Additional information:
Further information about the Coalition Against the Instrumentalisation of Secularism, the statement from civil society, the context, and the documented effects of Bills 21, 94, and 9 is available here.
Media Contacts:
Observatory for Migrant Justice (OPLJM)
Amel Zaazaa, Co-Founder and Executive Director, amel.zaazaa@opljm.org
Observatory on Racial Inequalities in Quebec (OIRQ)
Safa Chebbi, Founder and General Coordinator, contact.oirq@gmail.com
Ethnocultural Inclusion and Diversity in Education Team (IDEÉ)
Julie Larochelle-Audet, Professor, Faculty of Education, Université de Montréal, julie.larochelle-audet@umontreal.ca
Quebec Women’s Federation (FFQ)
Isabelle Rodrigue, Communications Officer, communication@ffq.qc.ca
League for Rights and Freedoms (LDL)
Claude Rioux, Communications Officer, communication@liguedesdroits.ca
Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA)
Alex Nanoff, Media Relations, media@ccla.org
