canada is W-I-L-D y'all (a short thread)

Quebec has a law that prohibits public workers from wearing religious symbols

To pass it, Quebec invoked a constitutional provision that allows laws to violate certain rights like freedom of expression & religion

wait there's more

This provision, called the notwithstanding clause, allows legislatures to avoid being overruled by courts when they pass laws that are otherwise clearly unconstitutional

It was part of a 1980s constitutional compromise to preserve dominance of elected legislatures over courts

When a legislature does this, it has to renew its use of the clause every 5 years. Fundamental rights and freedoms that can be ignored include:

Thought, belief, opinion and expression

Peaceful assembly

Unreasonable search/seizure

Arbitrary imprisonment

(oh there's more)

Right to a lawyer

Speedy trial

Right to know charges against you

Cruel/unusual punishment

Discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability

... all legal, if the legislature uses the magic words every 5 years

But there are some fundamental rights that CAN'T be overturned.

Like elections. Or the right to receive government services, including education, in English or French, particularly if speaking one of those languages makes you a minority in your province.

Which leads us to the English Montreal School Board. I'm not even going to get into their many controversies, but they ARE leading one of the legal fights against this law in Quebec.

And today, a judge came down with a ruling.

Basically, he said this law CLEARLY violates fundamental freedoms in the constitution, but there's nothing he can do. Quebec's legislature said the magic words.

BUT he said the law doesn't apply to English school boards, since their constitutional protections can't be ignored

And those rights include the ability to foster a diverse learning environment by choosing who they hire.

So in Quebec, if you go to a francophone school, your teacher cannot wear a but if you go to an anglophone school, she can.

This has all sorts of weird implications. It entrenches difference between anglophone and francophone Quebeckers, reinforcing parallel societies, and on an issue that is not on its face about language.

And it solidifies the idea that inclusion of visibly religious people is an "anglophone thing," making it that much harder to integrate in a francophone Quebec without being forced to erase your religion.

This court decision will almost certainly get appealed. But it is an incredible collision of linguistic, cultural, and religious identity in Quebec, taking place on a stage of legal and political history that's, quite literally, foreign to me.

Every day you learn something new.

For a better explanation, start with this CBC story about today's news. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/bill-21-religious-symbols-ban-quebec-court-ruling-1.5993431