Quebec not ruling out expanding religious symbol ban to daycare and college workers

Jean-François Roberge says "everything is on the table" when it comes to strengthening secularism in the province.

Quebec’s minister responsible for secularism says the government isn’t ruling out expanding its religious symbols ban to include daycare employees.

Jean-François Roberge says “everything is on the table” when it comes to strengthening secularism in the province, including extending the law known as Bill 21 to include more categories of public employees.

However, he said Wednesday the government will wait for the recommendations from a government-appointed committee studying the issue before making a final decision.

“We’ll let the committee work,” he said. “After that, we’ll see if we move forward with daycares like in schools.”

Currently, the workplace religious symbol ban applies to categories of public employees deemed to be in positions of authority, including teachers, judges and police officers.

Families Minister Suzanne Roy says that if the ban is extended to daycares, it should only apply to future hires in order to avoid staff shortages.

“We don’t want to create a disruption in services …. We already have a shortage of educators,” she told reporters. She said she doesn’t know how many employees wear religious symbols, such as hijabs or kippahs, that would not be allowed in the workplace if the ban is extended.

The government announced the committee earlier this year after a report into the toxic climate at a Montreal elementary school sparked concerns over religious practices infiltrating Quebec schools. The committee’s mandate is to deliver a report this summer recommending ways to strengthen secularism.