Quebec’s laicity bill and the legal challenge against it
The Supreme Court of Canada is set to hear a constitutional challenge to Quebec’s secularism law, known as Bill 21, on March 23-27, 2026. The Bill is titled “An Act respecting the laicity of the State,” and came into force on June 16, 2019. The Government of Canada explains, “the law prohibits public officials in positions of authority from wearing a religious symbol at work and requires public services to be provided and received with the face uncovered.” CBC reports, “the bill also seeks to ban public institutions from offering a diet exclusively based on a religious tradition and religious practices in public institutions.”
CityNews says, “the legislation was adopted under a gag order by the Legault government and has been the subject of multiple legal challenges, including those filed by the English Montreal School Board, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) and the Fédération autonome de l’enseignement.” According to CBC, the court “will hear from Quebec’s attorney general, teachers and religious and civil rights groups challenging the law, from five other provinces and the federal government, and dozens of groups and individuals intervening in the case.”
For Bill 21, Quebec invoked the notwithstanding clause against the Canadian and Quebecois Charters of Rights and Freedoms. The Government of Canada says the use of the clause enables provincial governments to pass laws that would otherwise violate the Charter, preventing affected individuals from having their rights and freedoms upheld by the courts.
The Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) argues, “the law has had disproportionate discriminatory impacts on Muslim women in Quebec who wear a hijab or a niqab.” Sylvie St-Amand, president of the Quebec Federation of Women, criticized Bill 21, saying, “A law that restricts women’s rights to bodily autonomy and that limits their ability to participate in society, to obtain services, and to find work should never be tolerated.”
The CCLA voices, “people should not be forced to make the choice between their religion, their identity and their profession,” underlining that the bill targets people who express their faith through what they wear, and that the government should not be allowed to dictate these expressions.
The National Assembly of Quebec published the legislative record of Bill 21, which stated, “the purpose of this bill is to affirm the laicity of the State and set out the requirements that follow from it.” The notes continue to explain the four principles of laicity: the separation of State and religions, the religious neutrality of the State, the equality of all citizens, and freedom of conscience and freedom of religion.
The Albertan reports, “the provincial Parti Québécois and the federal Bloc Québécois, parties that advocate for Quebec independence, say the legal challenges to the law — and the federal government’s plan to intervene at the Supreme Court — are an attack on the province’s right to determine its own path.”
The Government of Canada’s suggested response says they are “committed to upholding the rights of all Canadians under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees freedom of religion and equality rights for all, regardless of personal characteristics.”
The Government of Canada has not intervened in the proceedings, but has written that it believes in diversity as a strength and is committed to diversity, inclusion, and peaceful co-existence between all religious and belief communities.