Montreal city council will issue a declaration affirming “the principle of open secularism” and the religious neutralty of its by-laws — “regardless of the religion of those who make” them.
Mayor Valérie Plante and opposition leader Lionel Perez announced the joint declaration, on which city council will vote, opposing Premier François Legault’s Bill 21 at a news conference at city hall Monday.
“The Montreal we love is open, culturally rich and diverse,” said Plante, saying no one should have to live in insecurity over their job prospects because of their religious beliefs.
“We speak with one voice,” Perez said, hailing Plante’s openness to make a declaration his party had proposed a bipartisan one.
The declaration says the secularism bill does not reflect Montreal’s cultural diversity and the success story it represents in having built a safe and tolerant society.
The declaration — a rare moment of unity between the Plante administration and the opposition — also reaffirms the city’s “unwavering support for all its employees, regardless of their religious beliefs.”
It says Quebec is already a secular society and there is no need for the province to legislate what government employees wear.
Under Premier François Legault’s Bill 21, authority figures including judges, police officers and public school teachers would be prohibited from wearing symbols such as the Muslim hijab, Jewish kippah or Sikh turban on the job.
The declaration says the wearing of religious symbols by certain individuals does not threaten the secularism of the state, and people who hold religious convictions are just as neutral and professional as those who don’t.
No one should live in fear or uncertainty about their job or place in Montreal society because they choose to practise their religion, it says.
The declaration does not go so far as to say Montreal will defy the law. Suburbs such as Côte-St-Luc, Hampstead and Montreal West have vowed not to enforce Bill 21’s restrictions.
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2019
