Quebec is pushing ahead with controversial new restrictions on public prayer and religious dietary menus in public institutions as part of a broader effort to reinforce state secularism. The measures, introduced in a bill by the ruling Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ), build on a controversial 2019 law that already barred judges, police, teachers, and other public servants from wearing religious symbols at work, per the BBC. That law is currently facing a challenge before Canada's Supreme Court, which will hear the case next year.
The new bill, dubbed "secularism 2.0," extends the ban on religious symbols to staff in subsidized daycares and private schools, blocks public institutions from offering only religious-based meals (like kosher and halal), prohibits collective prayer in public spaces without municipal approval, and bars face coverings for students and staff in all classrooms, including in daycares and universities, per the CBC. The move follows recent debates over public prayer at pro-Palestinian protests, with Quebec's minister for secularism, Jean-François Roberge, arguing that the rules are needed to keep public spaces from turning into places of worship.
Critics, including the National Council of Canadian Muslims and the opposition Parti Québecois, accuse the CAQ of stoking division ahead of next year's provincial election. The CBC notes the CAQ has been sliding in polls, with the Parti Québécois in the lead for two years. Secularism—or laïcité in French—has been a defining issue in Quebec for decades, rooted in the province's move away from the Catholic Church's influence in the 1960s. While a recent poll found strong support for secularism among Quebecers, opponents argue the laws disproportionately affect religious minorities, particularly Muslim women.
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