Canada’s largest Muslim organisation is outraged over a bill introduced by the Quebec government that would ban headscarves for school support staff and students.

“In Quebec, we made the decision that state and the religion are separate,” said Education Minister Bernard Drainville, CBC News reported. “And today, we say the public schools are separate from religion.”

But the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), who are challenging in the Supreme Court the original bill that forbids religious symbols being worn by teachers, say the new bill is another infringement on their rights and unfairly targets hijab-wearing Muslims.

“This renewed attack on the fundamental rights of our community is just one of several recent actions taken by this historically unpopular government to bolster their poll numbers by attacking the rights of Muslim Canadians,” the NCCM said in a social media post.

        • Avid Amoeba
          link
          fedilink
          22 months ago

          The law is specifically about arbitrating the display of religious symbols in government institutions in order to enforce visible separation of church and state. It’s not saying that Muslims have to adopt a different culture. Also, it could very well be unconstitutional. That remains to be seen but there’s a high likelihood.

            • Avid Amoeba
              link
              fedilink
              3
              edit-2
              2 months ago

              If you aren’t considering what the downside of this type of law is, then I don’t think you’re engaging beyond stating your beliefs. Clearly there are problems with it and people have expressed them. And as I said it is likely to be found unconstitutional.

    • @can@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      -1
      edit-2
      2 months ago

      The Canada I believe in is a mixture of cultures and beliefs. Saying they should assimilate to our (white) ways conflicts with that.

      Edit: to be clear, I’m obviously not for oppression of women, but that’s not what it symbolizes to everyone. At a certain point they’re old enough to make their own choices and if they feel better wearing one I prefer to respect that.