Bill 21 is a law rooted in a vision of society — complete separation of church and state — that affects all religions equally
Quebec’s newly tabled law, “An Act respecting the laicity of the State,” will be sent to committee for study, and with the help of the notwithstanding clause, will pass as written. The new law prohibits all government employees in positions of authority — judges, police, educators in elementary and high school — from wearing face coverings or visible religious symbols.
As I have frequently argued in these pages, I consider the social right to see the face of any official interlocutor more compelling than indulgence of what should be acknowledged, even by those urging its acceptance, as a patriarchal culture’s symbol of misogyny and, all too often, a sign of hostility to Western cultural norms. The fact that face cover is not widespread here at present is no reason why the principle should not be legally established to nip proliferation in the bud.
The issue of visible religious symbols is thornier. Critics see the law as conceived in an anti-Muslim spirit. They are half right. The hijab is doubtless a major sticking point for Quebec’s “values” activists. But then, unlike the others, the hijab is far more than a merely religious symbol. Many girls and women who wear the hijab are apolitical, but the hijab can be, and often has been, a rallying instrument for political Islam.
Most notably, it is linked with the 1979 Iranian Revolution, after which the hijab became mandatory in Iran for girls aged six and older. Today it is regarded there as a symbol of government tyranny and oppression. Many courageous women have suffered persecution and imprisonment for the right to unbind their heads. They may justifiably feel triggered by having to, say, take university courses from or plead a case in a court presided over by a covered woman.
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