Abdulah Aref lives, and prays, in Gatineau. He attends prayers at the Outaouais Islamic Centre. His wife wears a hijab. But if Quebec goes ahead with a proposed ban on religious symbols, he's moving.
"I mean I have my wife and she's religious,” says Aref. “And if she's not allowed to have that, I can't stay in this city."
The Quebec government is reportedly considering a ban on all conspicuous religious symbols, from hijabs to turbans to crucifixes. They would no longer be allowed anywhere that is publically-funded, including all provincial and municipal workplaces, hospitals, schools, and even daycares.
Many are convinced it is culturally-biased and exclusionary. Some are wondering if it's even legal. Julius Grey, a constitutional lawyer and professor in Montreal, says it will most assuredly be challenged. “Quebec is of course free to amend the Quebec Charter of Rights and Freedoms but cannot touch the Canadian Charter,” he says.
Richard Marceau is a lawyer, Jewish, and a Quebecer. He says most people in Quebec support the separation of church and state in principal. But banning religious symbols is not the way to put it into practise. "The state has to be neutral. Nobody says that citizens have to be neutral," points out Marceau.
The debate comes barely two months after Quebec made headlines for banning turbans on the soccer field. That ban was soon reversed.
