Muslim advocacy group blasts Quebec secularism law in front of Commons committee

One of Canada's most prominent Muslim advocacy groups used part of its time in front of a Commons committee studying Islamophobia Thursday to attack a controversial Quebec law that bars most public sector employees from wearing religious clothing or symbols on the job.

«The Quebec government legislates discrimination since 2019,» Stephen Brown, chief executive officer of the National Council of Canadian Muslims, told members of the Commons justice committee.

«The impacts of Law 21 have caused mental torment for countless Muslim women who must now choose between their fate and life in Quebec, a place where many consider home.»

Questioned by Bloc Québécois MP Rhéal Fortin — whose party supports the law — Brown said «all forms of hatred are unacceptable, especially hatred encouraged by a government.

»Law 21 is a form of hatred that literally targets minorities and seeks to remove citizens' rights."

Fortin repeated what the Quebec government has said about the law, which has considerable polling support in the province — that the ban on public servants wearing hijabs or other visibly religious clothing on the job is meant to clarify the separation of church and state.

«In the same law,» Brown shot back, «it's said that the state has to be neutral but crosses on schools are all right, crosses in hospitals are all right, but that people have to be neutral. What exactly is a neutral person?»

He also pointed to an interview Quebec Premier François Legault gave Radio-Canada in 2019. In it, Legault defended the law in part by saying it placated extremist sentiments in the province.

The law has been upheld by the lower courts but likely will end up before the Supreme Court of Canada. Multiple groups, including the NCCM, have challenged the