Quebec rejects ban on religious symbols for students despite secular push

Quebec’s Education Minister Bernard Drainville has rejected calls from the Quebec Secular Movement (MLQ) to ban religious symbols for students in public schools, news reports reported. Drainville clarified that Bill 94, currently under review, seeks to reinforce secular principles in education but does not include restrictions on students’ religious attire.

The bill aims to extend the current ban on religious symbols to all public school employees and external collaborators but exempts students. This has drawn criticism from the MLQ, whose president Daniel Baril argued that garments like the hijab and abaya promote political Islam and gender discrimination, citing France’s 2004 ban as a model and also called for removing the “grandfather clause” that allows existing employees to continue wearing religious symbols.

Minister Drainville insisted on a uniquely Quebecois approach to secularism, balancing individual freedoms and institutional neutrality. Meanwhile, the CSN union opposed the bill, warning it could worsen staff shortages and harm education quality.

The proposed law does include a ban on full-face coverings like the niqab for both students and staff in all schools, public and private. Parliamentary hearings on the bill began last Thursday, sparking divided opinions over secularism and religious freedoms in Quebec’s multicultural society.