EMSB prepares to take Bill 21 case to the Supreme Court

The English Montreal School Board looks forward to challenging Bill 21, An Act Respecting the Laicity of the State, before the Supreme Court of Canada.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court of Canada  announced  that it will hear a challenge to Quebec’s secularism law.

On October 2019 the  EMSB challenged Bill 21 in Quebec Superior Court.  The legislation had  come into force several months earlier, barring public-school teachers, government lawyers, judges and police officers from wearing religious symbols while at work.  The Quebec Superior Court struck down key provisions of Bill 21 on April 20, 2021. However, the Quebec Court of Appeal did not uphold that decision on February 29, 2024,  setting in motion the request by the EMSB, the   National Council for Canadian Muslims, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association to seek leave to appeal that ruling at the Supreme Court.

“We maintain our original position   that Bill 21 conflicts with our values and our mission and with those of all Quebecers as expressed in the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms,” said EMSB Chair Joe Ortona. “Its  very adoption was contrary to our societal goal of promoting our peaceful co-existence in a pluralistic Quebec.”

Mr. Ortona emphasizes how this legislation prohibits our future primary and high school teachers, school principals and vice-principals from wearing religious symbols in the exercise of their functions, while limiting the career advancement of our current employees. “Most importantly,” he says, “it sends a message of intolerance and exclusion to our students and their families. We are pleased to go forward in front of the highest court in the country.”

The EMSB’s contention is  based primarily on Section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms that guarantees minority language educational rights to English-speaking minorities in Quebec, including the exclusive right of management and control of school boards accorded to linguistic minority communities across Canada.

“We value the diversity of our students and staff and respect their personal and religious rights which are guaranteed both by the Canadian and Quebec Charters of Rights,” said Mr. Ortona. “This legislation runs contrary to what we teach with regard to respect for individual rights and religious freedoms.”

EMSB’s challenge to Bill 21 was also based on gender discrimination, prohibited under section 28 of the Canadian Charter. Mr. Ortona added that rather than promoting gender equality, Bill 21 has the opposite effect. “Due to the preponderance of women working in Quebec schools, the law has a disproportionate effect on them, particularly well-educated Muslim women with university teaching degrees whose role in public life is restricted,” he said.  “Bill 21 remains an attempt to solve a non-existent problem.

About the English Montreal School Board

With a youth and adult sector population of more than 35,000 students, the English Montreal School Board (EMSB) is the largest English public school board in Quebec. Established on July 1, 1998, when the province created new boards along linguistic lines. Our network consists of 77 schools and centres. For more details, visit the EMSB website at www.emsb.qc.ca.