A proposal to ban many public employees from wearing religious symbols and clothing is creating a fiery debate in the Canadian province of Quebec. The Muslim hijab is the focus of the controversy.
In this Thursday, April 4, 2019, photo, kindergarten teacher Haniyfa Scott gives a lesson during class in Montreal. The Quebec government's recently tabled Bill 21 bans the wearing of religious symbols for new government placed employees within schools, the courts and law enforcement.
“The proposed legislation will affect Muslims more than other groups as they are the fastest growing religious group,” said Nelson Wiseman, a political science professor at the University of Toronto. Muslims represent about 3% of Quebec’s 8.3 million people. However, on Friday Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante said that while she personally opposes the bill, Montreal would not disobey it if it is passed.
The history behind the measure is rooted in Quebec’s “Quiet Revolution” of the 1960s, a movement that weaned the province away from political and cultural domination by the Catholic Church. But critics also say it’s motivated by more recent growing anti-Muslim sentiment. Many who support Bill 21 say that even if women choose to wear the hijab, the garment is rooted in the idea of women’s inferiority. Prohibiting it, they say, would help promote gender equality.
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