Canada’s top court has agreed to hear a challenge to Quebec’s controversial secularism law, paving the way for a fierce debate over provincial powers and the fundamental rights of ethnic and religious minorities.
The supreme court signaled on Thursday that it would grant leave to appeal against the 2019 law which prohibits certain public workers in positions of authority – including judges, police officers, prison guards and teachers – from wearing religious symbols while at work. Other public workers such as bus drivers, doctors and social workers must only keep their faces uncovered.
The legislation does not name specific religious symbols, and theoretically all symbols – kippahs, turbans, crosses – are equally prohibited, but critics of the law says it disproportionately affects Muslim women who wear the hijab.
Quebec’s justice minister and the minister responsible for secularism said they would defend the law “until the end” in a joint statement.
“It is primordial, even vital, for Quebec to be able to make its own choices, choices that correspond to our history, to our distinct social values and the aspirations of our nation,” the statement said, calling the prospect of federal intervention disrespectful and an affront to Quebec’s autonomy.
The law arguably violates key tenets of Canada’s charter of rights and freedoms but the province has used an arcane legislative mechanism known as the “notwithstanding clause” to override certain parts of the charter. A government can only invoke the clause for five years before it must be renewed. Quebec’s national assembly passed the secularism bill into law in 2019, last renewing the clause in 2024.
The Quebec government has won two previous victories defending the law, including a decision from the province’s court of appeal, which found that the notwithstanding clause was properly invoked.
Last year, six groups asked the supreme court to hear the case. In the past, the federal government been wary of intervening over fears of angering voters in the province.
After a teacher was removed from a classroom for wearing a hijab in 2021, the prime minister, Justin Trudeau, said it was important “to ensure that it is Quebecers themselves who deeply disagree with the fact that someone can lose their job because of their religion”.
Now the federal government will intervene in the case and make arguments against Bill 21 in front of the supreme court.
On Thursday, the justice minister, Arif Virani, said the governing Liberals had “significant concerns” about how the notwithstanding clause was used.
“We are going to defend the charter that we helped created over 40 years ago,” he told reporters.
Groups representing religious minorities in the province celebrated the news that the case had reached the supreme court.
“While recognizing that the path ahead is still long and challenging this decision offers a glimmer of hope for those who have been enduring the painful impacts of the law,” the Canadian Muslim Forum said in a statement.
The World Sikh Organization said the case would have “profound implications” for the future of human rights battles in Canada.
A hearing is not yet scheduled but is likely to come in the fall.
