‘Violation of Religious Freedom’: Quebec Faces Legal Backlash Over School Prayer Room Ban
The lawsuit was filed on Tuesday by the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), a student and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.
“Today we are in court to stand up for Quebec students,” NCCM Chief Executive Officer Steven Brown said at a news conference. “This decree must be suspended due to the significant harm to children in Quebec schools.”
The plaintiffs said the directive discriminates against Muslim students who need to pray during the day, sometimes using a prayer rug, and forces them to choose between their faith and their education.
The Quebec government has no right to tell anyone when and where they can or cannot pray and should not meddle in the “spiritual lives” of children, Brown said.
“The joint lawsuit addresses the prayer ban’s violation of personal and religious freedoms,” he said. “This is an issue that has direct effects on the lives of children.”
The NCCM said it is representing a student who used to pray in a designated room at his school before the ban.
The plaintiffs are asking the court to declare the directive invalid and order the education ministry to withdraw it.
“This decree is hurting Quebec students,” said Harini Sivalingam, Equality Program Director at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. “After the decree was issued students have told us that their schools have prohibited them from praying at school (altogether).”
Johanna Mortreux, another lawyer for the groups, said the decree has made those students feel isolated and rejected.
In a statement from one of the students that Mortreux read aloud in court, the student said, “we are being sent the message that we are a lost cause and don’t even want to be seen on school grounds.”
The ban violates students’ freedom of religion, equality rights and their dignity, Mortreux told the court, adding that school is supposed to be like a second home for students. Asking them to leave school property to do something as fundamental to their identity as practise their religion causes significant harm, she said.
The education ministry defended the directive, claiming it aims to ensure that public schools are secular and inclusive spaces for all students.
Meanwhile, Lucie Roy, a lawyer for the Marguerite-Bourgeoys school service centre, which oversees the school the 16-year-old plaintiff attends, told the court that while the decree forbids schools from providing places to pray and bars students from praying in an overt way, it does not specify the consequences for violating the rule. Students who pray in school would be asked to stop but they won’t be disciplined for simply praying, Roy said.
Olga Redko, a lawyer for the two groups, said it was “shocking” that students would be made to choose between exercising their right to practice their religion and their right to education.
Justice Lukasz Granosik said he expected to render his decision Wednesday morning.
The suit is one of two seeking to have the ban declared unconstitutional; another challenge was filed May 18 by five Muslim organizations.
Source: Agencies
