Goodbye Francois Legault

                                                             Quebec Premier Francois Legault 

Quebec Premier Francois Legault has announced his resignation well in advance of the Fall provincial election and I'm relieved  he's going. In some respects Legault provided strong leadership through his first two terms but in the last couple of years as the popularity of the CAQ party took a nosedive he supposedly appealed to older voters by introducing legislation that was barely disguised in its racism and Islamaphobia. Bill 94 and more recently Bill 9 have doubled down on enforcing bans on religious expression anywhere outside of places of worship in clear violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.  

Many religious groups including the Roman Catholic Church and the National Council of Canadian Muslims have condemned this legislation noting that under the restrictions even traditional ceremonies such as Good Friday processions would be banned. Many colleges and universities have multi-faith prayer rooms and Bill 94 calls into question whether they would still be allowed. As we know, there are teachers in schools and now daycares whose employment is threatened if they continue to cover their heads. According to a BBC report last November regarding Bill 9: 

Jean-François Roberge, the minister responsible for secularism, told a news conference in French on Thursday that the bill was "part of an approach that respected individual as well as collective rights".

The measures proposed in Bill 9 would:

• extend the ban on wearing religious symbols to staff in subsidised daycares
• bar "collective religious practices" like prayer in public spaces, such as parks, without prior authorisation from municipalities
• prevent students and staff from wearing face coverings in daycare all the way through to post-secondary education

This is simple destructive and while CAQ claims that these bills uphold Quebec values this is a dubious claim and certainly not in keeping with the Charter. So, Premier Legault, it's a relief to see you go and likely your party with you. What a miserable stain on your reputation for limited political gain. 

Harini Sivalingam, Director of Equality Program at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) made the following statement in response to the passage of Quebec Bill 94 – An Act to reinforce laicity in the education network:

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association unequivocally condemns the adoption of Quebec’s Bill 94, a law that undermines the fundamental freedoms of students and school staff across the province.

Every student in Quebec deserves a learning environment that is safe, inclusive and respectful of individual rights. Bill 94 works against that goal by imposing sweeping restrictions that violate the Quebec and Canadian Charters, eroding the very principles of equality and freedom that should define our public institutions.

This legislation denies religious accommodations, prohibits visible prayer at school, and bans, among other things, the wearing of religious symbols by school staff. These measures will disproportionately harm women and girls, racialized communities, religious minorities, and newcomers – deepening existing systemic exclusion rather than addressing it.