The Fédération autonome de l’enseignement (FAE) is following in the footsteps of the English Montreal 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 on Monday, the FAE said it was particularly opposed to the use of the notwithstanding clause, which allowed the Quebec government to pass the law without it being able to be challenged under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
In February, the minister responsible for secularism, Jean-François Roberge, tabled a bill to renew the notwithstanding clause for another five years.
It was previously invoked in 2019 to shield Bill 21 from attacks based on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, notably those claiming it was discriminatory.
The FAE states people must be wary of the “ease in which parliaments suspend our fundamental rights through excessive use of notwithstanding clauses.”
It says that for an override to be valid, the government should have to demonstrate that the objective is “real and urgent” and a citizen is requesting it.
The group of teachers’ unions says it would like the Supreme Court of Canada to reflect on the verdict handed down this winter by the Court of Appeal, which validated Bill 21, affirming that the law does not violate the linguistic rights of English-speaking school boards.
The Court of Appeal also affirmed that Quebec has the right to use the notwithstanding clause preemptively, as it did in Bill 21.
Bill 21 prohibits government employees in positions of authority, including teachers, from wearing religious symbols such as the Muslim headscarf, the Jewish yarmulke, the 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 Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) says it will defend the secularism bill “to the end.”
— This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on April 29, 2024.