Muslim women most affected by Quebec's secularism law, Court of Appeal hears

As the court challenge of Quebec's secularism law — commonly known as Bill 21 — continues this week before the Quebec Court of Appeal, groups contesting the law argued Tuesday Bill 21 overwhelmingly discriminates against Muslim women.

The Quebec government and several civil liberties groups are presenting arguments about a Superior Court decision last year, which upheld most — but not all — provisions of the law.

Enacted under the Coalition Avenir Québec government in June 2019, the secularism law prohibits public school teachers, police officers, government lawyers, a host of other civil servants and even some politicians from wearing religious symbols at work.

The province pre-emptively invoked the constitutional notwithstanding clause when drafting the legislation, in order to protect it from potential court challenges.

That means lawyers arguing against Bill 21 are trying to present arguments about provisions of the Constitution that generally cannot be overridden by the notwithstanding clause, including the right to gender equality.

Perri Ravon, the lawyer representing the English Montreal School Board, argued Tuesday that Bill 21 was designed to target one group in particular: Muslim women who wear the hijab.

"The expert evidence in this case accepted by the trial judge establishes that Bill 21 is likely to increase the prejudice faced by Muslim women more than any other group," Ravon told the panel of three judges.

Ravon noted that in the EMSB, eight people have lost jobs or been denied employment due to Bill 21. All were Muslim women.

At the largest French-language school service centre in the province, the Centre de services scolaire de Montréal, Ravon noted that the human resources director was unable to provide an exact number of people who'd lost their job, other than to say 100 per cent of cases dealt with the hijab.

Ravon said she could find no examples of anyone in any organization across the province losing their job due to Bill 21 other than Muslim women.

"Who's losing their job because of Bill 21? What symbol is drawing negative attention? The hijab, every time," Ravon said.

Ravon said it was clear through statements from the CAQ government about gender equality that Bill 21 was designed in large part to target the hijab and that the original trial judge accepted this argument.

Julius Grey, the lawyer representing the Quebec Community Groups Network and the Canadian Human Rights Commission, agreed.

"The centre of this law, the jewel in the crown for the government, is the hijab," Grey told the court.