Nov. 16 marked the final day of hearings against Bill 21 at the Court of Appeal of Quebec in Montreal. The legislation has faced controversy because it prohibits people employed in the public sector from wearing visible religious symbols at work and preemptively invoked the notwithstanding clause. Over five non-consecutive[Read More…]
Tag: Bill 21
‘Living with Law 21’ panel tells personal narratives of Bill 21’s multifarious impacts
On June 16, 2019, the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government implemented Bill 21, which banned public sector employees from wearing religious symbols at work. Since then, many McGill students and staff have critiqued the secularism the Act purports to uphold, drawing particular attention to its effect on racial and gender[Read More…]
Carving fish in the sand
Every time I’m in the lecture hall analyzing a poem, I’m of two minds. On the one hand, as an English student, I am thinking of the poem as a critic would—sifting and weighing the words. But on the other hand, I am reading as a Christian, conscious of every[Read More…]
Changing the narrative
I have a go-to answer when someone asks how I speak English so well, despite it not being my mother tongue: “I consume a lot of Western media.” Despite the benefits of this habit, that short phrase also encompasses the constant struggle of disentangling my self-worth from the harmful messages[Read More…]
Bill 21 is guilty as charged
The Quebec Superior Court began hearing testimony on Nov. 2 in a civil case against Bill 21, a 2019 policy that prohibits certain public sector employees from wearing religious symbols in the workplace. Although the plaintiffs contend that the Bill violates certain fundamental rights protected under the Canadian Charter of[Read More…]
McGill student Coalition Against Bill 21 calls for repeal of secularism law
McGill University students gathered to sit-in against Quebec’s Bill 21 outside the Montreal courthouse on Nov. 2. Organized by Non à la Loi 21, the McGill Muslim Law Students’ Association, RadLaw McGill, and the Muslim Student Association at McGill, the peaceful demonstrations took place at 8:00 a.m., promptly before the[Read More…]
White activists—stop hijacking social movements
The future Black, Indigenous, and other people of colour (BIPOC) imagine for themselves is always in relation to their present-day lived experiences. Since June 2019, students have been expressing their discontent with Bill 21—McGill students consistently rally for climate justice, but the campus’s attention is not given to all causes.[Read More…]
Education Undergraduate Society misses quorum to strike
The Education Undergraduate Society of McGill (EdUS) and the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) held a General Assembly (GA) on Jan. 10 where they condemned Bill 21. During the GA, students in the Faculty of Education voted on the possibility of striking for two days on Jan. 17 and[Read More…]
Campus activism against Bill 21
Students may have seen the ‘No to Bill 21’ pins on various backpacks and jackets this semester, but they may not understand what the pins represent. Bill 21 is a law passed by the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ), which prohibits public sector employees from displaying religious symbols at work. The[Read More…]
300 Montrealers march against racism and gentrification in Parc-Extension
Foul weather did not deter protestors at the fourth annual Mass Demonstration Against Racism on Oct. 27. The Collective Against Hate and Racism marched through the Parc-Extension neighbourhood in Montreal to protest Bill 21, Quebec’s law banning visible religious symbols, Bill 9, an immigration reform geared toward prioritizing “skilled workers,”[Read More…]