Ban on prayer rooms in schools in Quebec faces test in courts

A court on Tuesday reviewed the CAQ government’s decree banning prayer rooms in Quebec schools. The groups have asked High Court Judge Lukas Kranosic to suspend the application pending a final ruling on the validity of the action.

According to them, such a ban is “unfair and illegal”.

Invoking the “secularization of public schools,” the Quebec government sent schools an order last April so that their campuses could no longer be used for “public prayers or other practices.” The order was swift Supported by a mandate.

According to Education Minister Bernard Trinville, the existence of such campuses is incompatible with the Quebec state’s policy of secularism. “School is not a place of prayer,” he concluded.

But the decree changed many things for one Muslim student at a Montreal high school. When he used to offer prayers on school grounds or at an approved location – which he has done without any problems, the legal proceedings allege – he was told that was no longer possible due to a new government order. According to the dictates of his faith, he must say five prayers a day at specific times, including lunchtime. If you leave the school grounds for prayer, you risk being late for the next class. The 16-year-old is asking that the order be invalidated because it goes against his religious freedom, which is protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

His situation is “representative of the many students and children attending primary and secondary schools in Quebec who can no longer practice their faith freely. »

The request to invalidate the order is being made by the Canadian Muslim National Council (CNMC) and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (ACLC), which consider the CAQ order unconstitutional. It goes further than a campus ban because it targets any religious practice, they plead, and it removes any possibility for schools to make reasonable accommodations to students who ask.

Impact on Muslims

The ACLC believes the order has a disproportionate impact on students of the Muslim faith because their prayers are not silent or discreet, explained Laura Berger, the organization’s legal counsel.

“It sends a message of exclusion,” he argued at a press conference in front of a Montreal court on Tuesday. “The Education Minister’s order is yet another provision aimed at violating the rights of religious minorities in Quebec. »

For those who say schools are places of worship, not places of worship, Stephen Brown, CEO of the National Council of Canadian Muslims, says students face emotional needs while at home. Leave “a part of themselves when they leave home.”

He condemned that children should not hide for prayer.

Mr. According to Berger, no Canadian province has enacted such a broad ban against prayer rooms in schools.

The purpose of their legal action is not to require every school to have a dedicated room for prayer, but rather to find a fair solution for students who each want to pray safely.

The Quebec government defended its decree before the magistrate, arguing that, like all laws and government directives, it was adopted in the public interest. He therefore argues that there is no question of suspending its application before a full constitutional review.

Other Muslim groups had already filed petitions seeking annulment of the decree. It is possible for the two appeals to be joined so that there will be a single trial.

Judge Kranoczyk has indicated that he intends to issue a ruling on Wednesday morning.

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