A former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, Irwin Cotler, calls the Quebec State Secularism Act discriminatory and says it paves the way for state intervention in religion.
Mr. Cotler, a former Quebec member of the Liberal Party of Canada (PLC), is currently acting as Canada’s special envoy for the preservation of the memory of the Holocaust and the fight against anti-Semitism.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, the former minister specifies that Law 21 does not separate the State from religion as much as it allows the State to interfere with religious practice.
The law passed by the National Assembly in 2019 prohibits some state employees, including teachers, from wearing religious symbols during their work. Proponents of the law claim that it ensures a separation between state and religion, but Irwin Cotler does not agree and adds that Bill 21 violates the fundamental freedoms provided for in the charters of Canada and Quebec which protect human rights.
Recently, Bill 21 sparked protests when a teacher at a school in the Outaouais was assigned other duties because she was wearing a hijab in class.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has already expressed his disagreement with the law and has not ruled out the federal government taking part in a legal fight against its application, at a time he has not yet determined.
New Democratic Party (NDP) Leader Jagmeet Singh has said he will support federal intervention against Bill 21 as Official Opposition Leader Conservative Party (CPC) Leader Erin O’Toole said affirmed that he did not intend to intervene in the fields of jurisdiction of Quebec.
Irwin Cotler also denounces the use of the notwithstanding clause of the Constitution to protect Law 21. This clause serves in particular to protect the law for five years against legal remedies and challenges based on legal texts of rights and freedoms.
These exemptions are subject to renewal after five years, i.e. in 2024 in the case of Law 21.
The former member for Mount Royal specifies that the discriminatory nature of Bill 21 is made worse by the use of the notwithstanding clause. He recalls that when he was Minister and Attorney General, he said he would never have recourse.
Quebec justice minister Simon Jolin-Barrette, who is also minister responsible for secularism and parliamentary reform, could not be reached to react to the comments of the former federal minister.