Achi news desk-
The Fédération autonome de l’enseignement (FAE) is following in the footsteps of the Montreal English School Board (EMSB) in announcing that it has filed a petition with the Supreme Court of Canada to challenge Quebec’s secularism law, Bill 21.
In a press release issued Monday, the FAE said it specifically opposes the use of the notwithstanding clause, which would allow the Quebec government to pass the law without being challenged under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
In February, the minister responsible for secularism, Jean-Francois Roberge, submitted a bill to renew the section, albeit for another five years.
It was previously invoked in 2019 to defend Bill 21 against attacks based on the Bill of Rights and Freedoms, particularly those who argued it was discriminatory.
The FAE states that people must be wary of “the ease with which parliaments suspend our fundamental rights through the excessive use of clause after clause”.
He says that for an override to be valid, the government needs to prove that the goal is “real and urgent” and the citizen is asking for it.
The group of teachers unions says it would like the Supreme Court of Canada to mirror the ruling handed down this winter by the Court of Appeal, which upheld Act 21, confirming that the law does not infringe on the linguistic rights of English-speaking school boards.
The Court of Appeal also confirmed that Quebec has the right to use the preemptive clause, as it did in Bill 21.
Bill 21 prohibits government employees in positions of authority, including teachers, from wearing religious symbols such as a Muslim headscarf, a Jewish kippah, a Sikh turban and Christian crosses.
The federal government has already indicated that it plans to participate in any legal challenge to Bill 21 before the Supreme Court, while the Avner Quebec Coalition (CAQ) says it will defend the secularism law “to the end.”
— This Canadian Press report was first published in French on April 29, 2024.
