A teacher in Chelsea, Outaouais, was taken out of her elementary school class for wearing the veil. This would be the first time that such a situation has arisen since the adoption of Bill 21 by Quebec.
The teacher had been supplying a third-grade class at Chelsea’s English Elementary School for about a month. Parents learned of his departure last Friday.
Western Quebec School Board Interim President Wayne Daly confirms this is because of the Law on the secularism of the State that the teacher had to be removed from the classroom.
This law prohibits teachers from wearing religious symbols during their work. It applies to both school service centers and English-language school boards, which challenge it in court.
“Our job is to respect the law,” explains the acting president of the Western Quebec school board, Wayne Daly.
The teacher remains at Chelsea Elementary School, but has been assigned to other tasks that do not interfere with the application of Law 21. She will work there in particular on “inclusion”, specifies the school board. .
The union representing the teacher is also opposed to Bill 21, but now says it is “in a strange position”.
“How come she got hired?” », Asks Heidi Yetman, president of the Provincial Association of Teachers of Quebec (APEQ-QPAT). She describes the situation as “really sad”.
To this question, the acting president of the school board replied that “it is not a teacher who has been with the school board for 25 years”.
“How do you explain that to a new teacher?” You, as a Quebecer, are ready to ask this question [sur les signes religieux] to someone on the phone? I find that a little rude, ”observes Mr. Daly.
Last April, a Quebec Superior Court ruling ruled that the state’s secularism law violated the English-speaking minority’s right to manage and control its institutions, and exempted English-language school boards from its application.
The Quebec government appealed against Judge Marc-André Blanchard’s decision a few months later. On November 9, the English Montreal School Board, which asked to be exempted from the application of Bill 21 until a decision was rendered, was dismissed in the Court of Appeal.
In Quebec, CAQ MP Christopher Skeete recalled that Bill 21 was adopted more than two years ago.
“My understanding of this particular case is that the teacher was hired after the law came into force, so there was no possibility for a grandfather clause,” said Mr. Skeete. . “We are proud to say that we live in a secular society here in Quebec,” he added.
Unhappy parents
The teacher’s departure shocked several parents of the students. Mat Schatkowsky notes that his daughter, who is in third grade in the retired teacher’s class, is in her third teacher this year.
“It’s really sad, but considering what we know about law 21, and by extension of law 96 [sur les langues officielles] I’m not surprised. I have the impression that this is the result that we expected and it is difficult for us to put into context for an eight year old child, ”says Mr. Schatkowsky.
Amanda DeGrace has three children who attend this elementary school of about 300 students.
“We are promoting diversity and inclusion, and to see a teacher being taken out of her class because of a law over which the school board has no control is extremely shocking as a parent and as a citizen ”, explains Mme DeGrace.
The teacher concerned did not respond to interview requests from Press, Thursday. However, she told the Ottawa Citizen that she does not consider the hijab as a religious object, but as part of her identity.
“It’s important for me to keep wearing it, because I know some ideologies don’t want me to wear it. It’s my resistance, and my resilience, ”Fatemeh Anvari told the Ottawa Daily.
“Atrocious”, “absolute shame”, “cowardice”
The stake quickly rebounded on the other side of the Ottawa River, on Parliament Hill.
Liberal MPs did not mince words to express their disapproval.
“Clearly, the people of Quebec must do something, because it is atrocious. Here we are faced with a concrete example of the discriminatory nature of this law ”, launched the elected Alexandra Mendès.
His Montreal colleague, Minister Marc Miller, spoke of “cowardice”.
“This type of discrimination does not represent the Quebec society in which I want to live,” he added.
Liberal MP Salma Zahid, who started wearing the hijab during her mandate, in 2018, while undergoing chemotherapy treatments – she is the only one to be veiled in the House of Commons – pleaded the free choice.
“Women and girls should be free to choose what to wear […] I choose to wear the hijab. It was my choice. Nobody told me what to do, ”the Ontario MP wrote in a row on Twitter.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is opposed to Bill 21, has never closed the door to federal intervention in the courts to challenge it.
Conversely, the leader of the Conservative Party, Erin O’Toole, has always said that he has no intention of interfering in the affairs of Quebec.
He reiterated it Thursday on the sidelines of an announcement in parliament: “This is a field of provincial jurisdiction”, he argued, adding that it was “an important debate for Quebecers. “.
PHOTO ADRIAN WYLD, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole
The leader has at least one deputy within his ranks who urges him and elected federal officials to get involved.
“I can no longer, in good conscience, remain silent about this. It is an absolute disgrace. We must oppose [à la Loi] in the courts, in the House of Commons and on the streets, ”Kyle Seeback wrote on Twitter Thursday.
Another reaction: that of the Angus Reid Institute, whose president, Shachi Kurl, had posed a controversial question to the Bloc leader Yves-François Blanchet during the debate in English during the last election campaign.
“Regarding Bill 21 and religious symbols in public, Quebec and the rest of Canada tend to disagree on what is and is not acceptable,” the firm wrote on its Twitter account, providing a link that leads the results of a study carried out in 2019.
With Fanny Lévesque, Press