Quebec’s “secularism” law set to ruin more lives as government announces proposed ban on public prayers

Quebec's secularism law has not only fuelled individual acts of hate but also energized white supremacist and anti-Muslim hate groups, who find validation in its anti-Muslim agenda. 

 
By Fareed Khan

In a disturbing escalation of its controversial secularism policies, the Quebec government, led by the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) under Premier François Legault, has announced plans to ban prayers in public spaces and extend Bill 21’s restrictions to public day cares. These measures build on the 2019 act, which prohibits public employees in positions of authority from wearing religious symbols, disproportionately targeting Muslims, Sikhs, and Jews who visibly express their faith. After six years of legal challenges in Quebec the law has finally reached the Supreme Court.

While Quebec defends these policies as promoting state neutrality, the manner in which the CAQ has implemented its interpretation of secularism, coupled with the anti-religious fervour apparent in the debate around the bill, demonstrates that the de facto state religion of Quebec is radical atheism, shrouded in the language of extremist secularism. Opponents of Bill 21 have no issue with the concept of the separation of church and state. But elevating atheistic principles to the level of state-sanctioned ideology in the guise of promoting secularism, and forcing public sector workers to be ambassadors of that government-sanctioned ideology contrary to their inherent beliefs, is no different than advocating an official state religion.

The actions of Legault’s government make it clear that not only is it against public sector workers showing visible expressions of their faith, but it is also in favour of those same workers presenting atheism as the official face of the Quebec government to the public as part of their jobs.

The federal government has a constitutional 
duty to protect Charter rights.

This approach violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms’ guarantee of freedom of religion, fuels a surge in anti-Muslim hate crimes, emboldens white supremacist and hate groups, and creates a climate of fear, particularly for hijab-wearing Muslim women. The federal government has a constitutional duty to protect Charter rights, yet its inaction with regard to the Quebec law has heightened threats against protected rights under the Charter in Quebec, allowing the province to institutionalize state-sanctioned discrimination, in a slice towards fascism, echoing some far-right European governments.

A surge in anti-Muslim hate crimes

Since Bill 21’s passage Quebec has seen a marked increase in hate crimes targeting Muslims, a trend inseparable from the CAQ’s imposition of their radical secularist ideology. Nation-wide Statistics Canada data revealed a 253% increase in police-reported hate crimes against Muslims from 2012 to 2015, with the trend persisting post-2017 to the present day. In 2017, the year of the Quebec City mosque shooting, hate crimes targeting Muslims jumped 151% from 2016. Of course these are the hate crimes that are reported to police.  According to research published in 2021 by the Canadian Anti-hate Network 99% of hate crimes go unreported.

The January 29, 2017 massacre at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City, where six Muslim men were killed during evening prayers, remains Canada’s deadliest anti-Muslim hate crime. Perpetrated by a white supremacist who was radicalized online, the attack was not an isolated incident but a culmination of rising Islamophobic rhetoric amplified by anti-Muslim narratives propagated by far right political and media voices, and the CAQ’s anti-religious zeal, which seems to cast atheism as the state’s preferred belief system.

Since Bill 21 came into force the situation has worsened. A 2021 federal study reported a 71% increase in hate crimes against Muslims over the previous year. Mosques and Muslim institutions across Canada have been frequent targets of vandalism, with incidents like the hateful letters and burnt Qurans left at the vandalized Calgary Islamic Centre, and the desecration of the Quebec City Mosque with a pig’s head featuring prominently among hate crime incidents. In 2020, the International Muslim Organization in Toronto’s west end saw a volunteer, Mohamed-Aslim Zafis, stabbed to death in front of the mosque by an individual linked to neo-Nazi ideology. These acts reflect a broader pattern of community-level Islamophobia fuelled by hate groups like La Meute and Storm Alliance. By forcing public sector workers to embody atheism as a state-sanctioned ideology, Bill 21 legitimizes these hateful acts, signalling that religious expression and practice are antithetical to the values of Quebec society.

The vulnerability of hijab-wearing Muslim women

It has been Muslim women who wear the hijab who have been disproportionately harmed by Bill 21, facing both institutional and societal discrimination, and street-level violence. The law’s ban on religious symbols in public sector roles like teaching and policing has also forced many Muslim women to choose between their faith and careers, leading to what advocates call a “ghettoization” of Muslim communities, as women seek employment in Muslim-owned businesses to avoid discrimination. A 2021 study by Geneviève Mercier-Dalphond and Denise Helly found that 47% of violent hate crimes against Muslims targeted women, particularly those wearing hijabs, who face daily micro-aggressions and physical assaults. Reports documented cases of hijab-wearing women being spat on, verbally abused, and physically attacked, with assailants attempting to rip off their headscarves.

The CAQ’s radical stance, cloaked in the rhetoric of 

secularism, has normalized hostility toward Muslims

The CAQ’s radical stance, cloaked in the rhetoric of secularism, has normalized hostility toward Muslims and Muslim women in particular. By targeting visible religious symbols, particularly the hijab, Bill 21 signals that Muslim identity is incompatible with Quebec’s state-enforced "secularist" ideology. A survey by the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) found that 71% of Muslim women in Quebec have considered leaving the province due to the law’s impact, reporting increased workplace hostility and a pervasive sense of alienation. Premier Legault’s defence of Bill 21 as a response to “extremist sentiments” further stigmatizes Muslim women, making them visible targets for hate. Forcing public sector workers to suppress their faith and project atheism as part of their jobs mirrors the coercive tactics of authoritarian regimes, where state ideologies are used to suppress individual beliefs.

Bill 21 and the energizing of hate groups

Quebec's secularism law has not only fuelled individual acts of hate but also energized white supremacist and anti-Muslim hate groups, who find validation in the CAQ’s anti-Muslim agenda. A 2020 report from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue identified 6,660 online accounts, channels, and pages linked to right-wing extremism in Canada, many of which propagate anti-Muslim narratives. Groups like The Clann, Infidel Division, and Wolves of Odin have been documented harassing Muslim communities. The Quebec City mosque shooter was influenced by online extremist content, a pattern repeated in the 2020 Toronto mosque stabbing, and the murder of the Afzaal family in London in 2021.

The CAQ’s policies, steeped in the language of extremist secularism, have provided a veneer of legitimacy to anti-Muslim hate groups. By framing Bill 21 as a defence of Quebec’s cultural identity the government has echoed far-right tropes about Muslims as threats to societal cohesion. This mirrors strategies used by far-right European governments, such as France’s 2004 ban on religious symbols in schools and Hungary’s anti-immigrant policies, which have similarly emboldened nationalist and xenophobic movements. In Quebec, the 2013 Charter of Quebec Values debate, a precursor to Bill 21, was followed by a string of attacks on Muslims, demonstrating how state-sanctioned rhetoric can incite violence.

Radical secularism as state religion

Bill 21’s proponents claim it upholds secularism, but critics argue it promotes radical atheism, a form of ideological coercion inconsistent with the Canadian constitutional principle of religious neutrality. Secularism, as understood in most Western democracies, ensures the state neither endorses nor suppresses religion. The CAQ’s approach, however, actively suppresses religious expression, particularly targeting minorities whose faith is visibly practiced, while elevating atheism in the guise of secularism as the state’s preferred ideology. Opponents argue that forcing public sector workers to remove religious symbols and embody atheism as part of their professional duties is tantamount to mandating an official state religion.

A 2019 Leger Marketing poll revealed that support for 

the legislation was rooted in anti-Muslim sentiment

The anti-religious fervour surrounding Bill 21’s debate, evident in Legault’s dismissal of religious accommodation as a threat to Quebec’s identity, reveals a state ideology that prioritizes atheism above all other beliefs. This perversion of secularism aligns with the authoritarian tendencies of states drifting towards fascism, where governments impose ideological conformity to marginalize minorities.

Just before Bill 21 became law a 2019 Leger Marketing poll revealed that support for the legislation was rooted in anti-Muslim sentiment, with 63% of Quebecois favouring the ban on religious symbols for teachers, compared to 37% nationwide. This suggested a targeted animus toward Islam, with other religious minorities caught in the crossfire of the CAQ’s radical secularism agenda. The law’s impact on Quebec’s religious minorities is profound with a 2022 survey finding that Muslims, Sikhs, and Jews feel less safe and welcome since its passage, with many reporting a loss of belonging. The CAQ’s invocation of the "notwithstanding clause" to shield Bill 21 from Charter challenges further signals a dangerous disregard for constitutional protections, reinforcing the imposition of atheism as a state religion.

Francois Legault's government bears criminal liability 

for the rise in anti-Muslim hate in Quebec

Quebec’s trajectory, driven by the CAQ’s extremist secularism, is a cautionary tale of how state policies can fuel division and violence, mirroring the rise of far-right regimes in Europe. As a result Francois Legault's government bears criminal liability for the rise in anti-Muslim hate in Quebec by creating a legislative environment that normalizes discrimination through its radical policies. By targeting visible religious symbols and requiring public sector workers to project an atheistic image under the guise of religious neutrality, Bill 21 has signalled that Muslim, Sikh and Jewish identity is incompatible with Quebec’s state-enforced ideology, emboldening perpetrators of hate crimes and hate groups. The 2017 Quebec City mosque shooting, while it pre-dates Bill 21, occurred in a province already steeped in Islamophobic rhetoric, a climate that Quebec's secularism law has used and amplified.

Unfortunately, the federal government, tasked with upholding the Charter of Rights, has failed to intervene decisively to stop Quebec's assault on the Charter allowing it to erode the fundamental rights of all Canadians. Former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s initial reluctance to challenge Bill 21 directly, citing provincial autonomy as a reason, undermined the Charter’s purpose as a national shield and put the fundamental rights of every Canadians at risk. Whether through prompt legal challenges or legislation, the federal government has a legal duty and moral responsibility to protect the rights of all Canadians, and particularly those of Quebec residents whose governments of various political stripes have been the most egregious violators of Charter rights since it first came into effect.  Failure to do so risks normalizing state-sanctioned discrimination and emboldening hate across Canada.

Bill 21, Quebec does not promote neutrality but instead institutionalizes Islamophobia, has fuelled a surge in hate crimes, and emboldened white supremacist groups under the guise of radical atheism masquerading as secularism. By mandating that certain public sector workers suppress their religious identities, the CAQ imposes a state-enforced ideology that contradicts the principle of church-state separation and violates the rights of Quebec’s religious minorities. Rooted in anti-Muslim sentiment and an anti-religious fervour, the CAQ’s policies have created a climate of fear and exclusion, undermining Canada’s commitment to multiculturalism and freedom of religion.

While the Supreme Court may ultimately strike down Bill 21 Quebec can defy the court by continuing to use the notwithstanding clause to shield the legislation.  In such a situation the federal government has a clear responsibility to intervene and negate Quebec’s Bill 21 by invoking its power of disallowance under Section 90 of the Constitution Act, 1867. This rarely used authority allows the federal government to nullify provincial legislation that contravenes national interests or fundamental rights. Although last exercised in the 1940s, the power remains a valid legal mechanism to address provincial laws that violate the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Bill 21’s discriminatory impact on religious minorities, particularly Muslims, and its erosion of Charter-protected freedoms of religion and expression justify its use. By failing to act, the federal government risks complicity in allowing Quebec’s law to normalize exclusion and embolden hate, weakening the fabric of Canadian multiculturalism. Using the disallowance clause, while it would be controversial, is a necessary tool to uphold constitutional protections and prevent the further marginalization of vulnerable communities.

Quebec’s trajectory, mirroring far-right European governments, risks sliding toward fascism, where state power enforces ideological conformity to suppress minority identities. The federal government must act decisively to protect Charter rights, curb the rising tide of hate, and reaffirm Canada’s commitment to inclusivity before Bill 21’s divisive legacy causes irreparable harm.

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