The Quebec government intends to present a bill that prohibits prayer in public.
Secularism Minister Jean-François Roberge said in a statement on Thursday that “the proliferation of street prayer is a serious and sensitive issue.”
“Quebec’s prime minister has given me the mandate to strengthen secularism, and I am determined to fulfill this mandate diligently,” he said.
“This fall, therefore, we will introduce a bill to strengthen the secularism in Quebec, particularly by prohibiting street sentences.”
Its statement follows months of government efforts of the Avenir Québec coalition to reinforce secularism in the province, which includes adopting a law that requires immigrants to adopt the common culture of the province and present a bill to expand the law of religious symbols of the province to include school support staff.
The Minister’s announcement also produces a few days later An advisory committee recommended that the Government expand its law of secularism, known as bill 21, to prohibit early childhood educators in the subsidized nursery network of the province by using religious symbols.
The Committee, chaired by Guillaume Rousseau and Christine Pelchat, two lawyers who have previously defended Bill 21 in the Court, did not recommend the prayer of the government in public, which suggests that instead it leaves the issue to individual municipalities.
The report of almost 300 pages of the committee, the product of a five -month review, said only that municipalities should promulgate measures to regulate religious events.
However, Roberge said the committee’s report played a role in the decision to present a new bill that prohibits public prayer.
“Thanks to the discussions in Caucus and the committee report, our reflections on several aspects of secularism are very advanced,” he said.
Last year, Prime Minister François Legault declared his desire to prohibit public prayer.
“Seeing people praying on the streets, in public parks, it is not something we want in Quebec,” Legault said in December.
“When we want to pray, we go to a church, we go to a mosque, but not in public places. And yes, we will see the media where we can act legally or otherwise.”
Legault said his government would be willing to use the clause despite enforcing such prohibition.
The Government of the Legault Avenir Coalition Québec has been suffering in opinion surveys and recently lost its third consecutive selection to the sovereignty Parti Québécois.
The secularism committee report addresses the issue of public prayer, but says that the municipalities already have the “necessary powers” to regulate the collective sentence of the street and say that the bill 21 gives them additional powers.
“The committee is concerned about these issues, just as it cares about respecting individual freedoms,” says the report.
“Our position is moderation, which puts in balance between the risks of the abuses that face the collective values of Quebec and the preservation of religious practices that do not improperly interfere with public order and respect the purpose of public spaces, which must be accessible to the entire population.”
