After making a passionate plea for secularism in Quebec’s Salon Bleu, French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal denied on Friday that he had interfered in Quebec’s internal politics.
The prime minister said that France was committed to secularism, “which guarantees everyone the right to believe or not to believe.”
“There are countries or territories or nations in the world that have adopted this model and I consider that my responsibility when I travel internationally to one of these countries is to remind these nations that they are not alone and that this model is defended elsewhere. Does this mean that we are once again entering into an internal political debate? The answer is ‘no’,” said Attal at a press briefing at the Quebec legislature on Friday morning, in the presence of Premier François Legault.
During his speech to Quebec parliamentarians in the Salon Bleu on Thursday, the French PM said that “in the face of those who pretend not to understand what secularism is, who would like to hijack it, to make people believe that it is a form of discrimination, we reply that secularism is the condition of freedom, equality and fraternity.”
Asked at a press briefing about his statements the previous day, Attal said he had made them “on purpose.”
“It’s not a way of judging. It’s not a way of pointing the finger at other positions, other models that exist in many parts of the world,” he said.
Quebec’s Bill 21 on secularism continues to divide the province.
Earlier this week, the English Montreal School Board (EMSB) decided to take the Quebec Court of Appeal’s decision on this law to the Supreme Court, arguing that it is discriminatory.
The federal government has already indicated that it will participate in any legal challenge to Bill 21 before the highest court in the land.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on April 12, 2024.