Quebec could extend religious symbols ban to school staff other than teachers

MONTREAL — The Quebec government might extend its ban on religious symbols following a report on the state of secularism in several public schools.

Education Minister Bernard Drainville announced Friday he will table legislation to strengthen the province’s secularism rules, including by expanding the scope of the religious symbols ban to school staff other than teachers.

“One thing is clear: this report demands a strong response from us and that is what we are going to do,” he said in a news release.

The report, made public on Friday, reveals the results of an investigation of 17 Quebec schools accused of violating the province’s secularism rules. The auditors from the Education Department found no breach of the Quebec secularism law, known as Bill 21, “for the majority of complaints and reports analyzed.”

However, they point to a number of issues of concern, including the fact that Bill 21, which prohibits public employees such as teachers and police officers from wearing religious symbols on the job, does not extend to other school employees. In particular, they note that classroom aides and school daycare workers are not subject to the ban, despite spending time in classrooms with students.

They recommend the government review the list of employees covered by the law.

The auditors investigated whether teachers were abiding by the ban on religious symbols, and found only one case in which a replacement teacher was wearing a religious symbol in breach of the rule. Two others had also been wearing religious symbols, but the situation was resolved before the investigation began.

Still, the report notes it’s unclear who is responsible for enforcing the ban.

At one high school, the auditors heard reports of three or four students who had frequented classes with their faces covered, and around 10 who had covered their faces with a veil and a medical mask. Students are allowed to wear religious symbols in school, but Bill 21 says that people must uncover their faces when receiving government services when it’s necessary for security reasons or to verify their identity.

The report notes that some teachers were not able to identify the students whose faces were covered, and says auditors heard reports that they do not respond to male teachers.

The auditors also heard that some teachers use languages other than French among themselves and in front of students. In response, Drainville said he plans to legislate on the use of French as the common language in schools and on requiring students to uncover their faces.

In addition, the report found that some teachers are adjusting the material they teach so as not to offend religious beliefs, including by avoiding novels about romantic relationships or dealing with magic or witchcraft. Some teachers also avoid discussing certain topics, such as equality between men and women and gender identity.

The auditors found one example of students praying on school grounds. In 2023, the Quebec government banned prayer in public schools, but one of the 17 schools had allowed the students to pray outside, on school premises.

The report also points out that the Centre de services scolaire de Montréal, which administers French-language public schools in Montreal, offers teachers paid vacation for religious holidays, meaning that religious teachers can end up with more paid vacation than those who do not practise any religion. During some religious holidays, more than one-quarter of teaching staff at some schools are absent.

The investigation of the 17 schools, mostly in and around Montreal, began following a report published last October that revealed a group of teachers at a Montreal elementary school had subjected children to physical and psychological violence. The report alleged the teachers, many of North African descent, yelled at and humiliated students. Subjects like science and sex education were either ignored or barely taught, and girls were prevented from playing soccer.

In the ensuing uproar, Premier François Legault said the teachers were trying to “introduce Islamist religious concepts into a public school.” Allegations of Muslim religious practices at other schools were reported in the media in the following weeks, leading to this latest investigation.

The government promised new legislation to strengthen secularism in Quebec schools last December, before the investigation was complete. On Friday, a Quebec union representing 125,000 education workers cautioned against using “17 problematic schools” to make changes that will affect 3,000 schools across the province. “It seems important to us that this does not serve political purposes,” Éric Gingras, president of the Centrale des syndicats du Québec, said in a statement.

Meanwhile, a union representing school support staff denounced the plan to expand the religious symbols ban, saying it would worsen an existing “recruitment crisis.”

The report rarely makes explicit reference to any religion, though it mentions students fasting during Ramadan and being absent during the Muslim holiday of Eid.

However, it does mention that some school service centres have received requests to change the names of schools named after Catholic religious figures, such as Cardinal-Roy and Saint-Justin. The auditors also note that some schools feature Catholic religious symbols, including a cross carved in the stone above the entrance of one school, and stained glass windows at another.

But these do not violate Bill 21, they found. “The (secularism law) was not intended to erase the entire history of Quebec nor to deny its origins,” they write. “The objective is rather to guide public action for the future.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 28, 2025.

Maura Forrest, The Canadian Press