Montreal’s English school board appealing to Supreme Court over Bill 21

Joe Ortona, president of the EMSB and independent politician, announced on Thursday that his organization would continue its legal challenge of Bill 21.Montreal’s English school board will seek leave to appeal Quebec’s controversial Bill 21 to the Supreme Court, hoping to overturn a law that prevents some public employees from wearing religious symbols such as hijabs.

“We should be allowed to hire who we want,” said Mr. Ortona, who has been one of the law’s most vocal critics. “The government should not be allowed to impose completely arbitrary symbols like religious headwear that have no bearing on the quality of education that children receive – and just the opposite.”

Since it was adopted in 2019, Bill 21 has barred public employees in positions of “coercive” authority, including police officers, prison guards and teachers, from wearing visible religious symbols. Under the law, people already in those jobs who wear such symbols are allowed to keep working. But they cannot be promoted or transferred, and new hires must remove the religious symbol to work.

“Our government will be there to defend the Charter before the Supreme Court of Canada,” he said then. “This case touches on fundamental freedoms and rights and the interpretation and application of the Charter.” The legislation was passed after years of fierce debate in Quebec about the “reasonable accommodation” of religious minorities amid rising rates of immigration and a more visibly diverse population.

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