Quebec government to table legislation to ban prayer in public places

MONTREAL — The Quebec government says it is planning to ban prayer in public places as part of a move to strengthen secularism in the province.

The announcement makes good on a suggestion put forward in December by Premier François Legault, who said he didn’t want to see people praying in public parks or on streets.

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On Thursday, Secularism Minister Jean-François Roberge confirmed he will table legislation this fall to outlaw the practice.

“The rise of street prayers is a serious and sensitive issue in Quebec,” he said in a written statement. “Last December, our government expressed its unease with this growing phenomenon, particularly in Montreal.”

Roberge did not say whether the government would invoke the notwithstanding clause, which would allow the bill to override certain sections of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Last year, the premier said he was considering that possibility.

The move comes amid simmering tension in Quebec over Muslim prayers taking place as part of pro-Palestinian demonstrations, including in front of the Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal.

“Seeing people on their knees in the streets, praying, I think we have to ask ourselves the question. I don’t think it’s something we should see,” Legault said last year.

In a statement Thursday, the Canadian Muslim Forum said it was deeply concerned by the news. “A blanket ban would stigmatize communities, fuel exclusion, and undermine Quebec’s social cohesion,” the group said.

The legislation would be one part of a larger push by the province’s Coalition Avenir Québec government to expand secularism rules, including by extending the province’s workplace ban on religious symbols to all public school staff.

It comes after an independent committee made 50 recommendations to the government earlier this week on how to strengthen secularism. In a nearly 300-page report, the committee suggested limiting religious accommodations and extending the religious symbols ban to daycare workers.

The committee, headed by two lawyers, also looked at the question of public prayer, but stopped short of recommending a blanket ban. Instead, the report said it should be up to municipalities to regulate the practice.

The authors said they tried to strike a balance between upholding Quebec’s collective values and ”the preservation of religious practices that do not unduly harm public order.”

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

— With files from Thomas Laberge in Quebec City

Maura Forrest, The Canadian Press