Muslim organizations sue Quebec government over school prayer ban

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
21 May 2023 12:36

The organizations have called the directive "unconstitutional," calling for a judicial review to be carried out and term the directive as Islamophobic as it violates the right of freedom of religion and association.

Young women carry signs during an anti-islamophobia march on June 11, 2021, after four members of a Muslim family were killed on June 6 in what police called a hate crime, in London, Ontario. (AFP)

Several Muslim organizations in Canada filed a lawsuit against the government in Quebec after a law ordering a ban on school prayer rooms went into force. The six organizations which have reportedly filed the lawsuit include the Muslim Association of Canada, the Canadian Muslim Forum, and four other local organizations.

According to the reports, the filing states that Education Minister Bernard Drainville recently issued a directive intended to force a ban on any religiously-linked practices in schools, vocational training centers, and adult education centers.

The organizations have called the directive "unconstitutional," calling for a judicial review to be carried out and term the directive as Islamophobic as it violates the right of freedom of religion and association.

"The plaintiffs request that a declaratory judgment concerning the interpretation to be given to the principles of laicity and religious neutrality of the state be rendered so that these principles cannot be used to order prohibitions of prayers or other religious practices in public places," the filing reads.

"Since it is a complete ban on all forms of prayer and since prayer is an essential component of Muslim religious practice, this ban discriminates against one group of individuals to the detriment of other groups," it adds.

Education Minister Drainville ordered the ban to go into effect on April 19 after reports of two Canadian schools reported they gave permission for students to gather on school property for prayer. According to him, the concept of a prayer room goes against Quebec's policy of official secularism.

School spaces cannot be used "in fact and in appearance, for the purposes of religious practices such as open prayers or other similar practices," he said.

The plaintiffs stated in their filing that "state secularism aims to ensure that the state is not religious," and that "the resulting obligation of state religious neutrality should not be interpreted in such a way as to favor one religion rather than another or to target, directly or indirectly, one religion rather than another."

Canada has in recent years begun to experience a surge in islamophobia and hate crimes directed towards other minorities, much to do with the September 11, 2001 attacks as well as rising far-right ideologies across the West.

Experiences of islamophobia range from vandalism of mosques as well as direct physical assaults on Muslims.

In 2020, researchers found the number of hate groups operating in the country had increased three-times fold.