The Supreme Court of Canada will announce next Thursday whether it decides to hear the case concerning the Secularism Act of the State of Quebec, confirmed to Journal one of the parties involved in the case.
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This is a decision that could have major impacts on a social, political, legal and constitutional level, in Quebec as in Canada.
The cause involves a host of stakeholders in society, including the Fédération supérieur de l’enseignement (FAE) and the English Montreal School Board.
Exceptionally, one of the judges of the Supreme Court, Mahmud Jamal, recused himself from any involvement in the cause since he chaired the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) when it decided to challenge the Act, in 2019.
In April 2021, the Superior Court of Quebec validated most of the provisions of the law, but exempted English-speaking school boards and members of the National Assembly.
-The Quebec government appealed this decision and the Court of Appeal, in 2024, confirmed the constitutionality of the Act, even for English-speaking school boards.
Justin Trudeau’s government has promised that the federal government would be an intervener if the Supreme Court ever decides to hear the case.
Adopted in 2019, the Law on State Secularism (Law 21) prohibits state employees in positions of authority, such as judges, police officers or public school teachers, from wearing ostentatious religious symbols.
To protect itself from any dispute, the government of François Legault used the derogation clause in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to implement the law.
As the use of the clause has effect for a period of five years, Quebec renewed the use of the clause last year.
