Canada: Teachers union to sue Quebec on secularism law

shaheennews

A union federation representing 45,000 teachers in Quebec is suing the Canadian province over its secularism law, known as Bill 21, which bans the wearing of religious symbols by many public employees.

A statement by the union federation president, Sylvain Mallette, said Tuesday that Bill 21 jeopardizes teachers’ jobs and working conditions as it violates the conscience of public school teachers and threatens their working conditions.

“Seventy-five per cent of the federation’s members are women, a group disproportionately affected by the secularism law because Muslim women are among the most visible members of Quebec society who wear religious symbols,” he stated.

“The federation is asking Quebec Superior Court to declare several articles of this law unconstitutional, unenforceable, invalid, inoperative and void,” he added.

//Petra//