Teachers Union Joins Bid to Have Supreme Court Rule on Quebec Religious Symbols Ban

A major Quebec teachers union says it will follow the lead of the English Montreal School Board and seek to challenge the province’s secularism law before the Supreme Court of Canada. The Fédération autonome de l’enseignement, or FAE, says in a statement on April 29 that in particular it opposes the Quebec government’s use of the Constitution’s notwithstanding clause to shield the law from Charter challenges. The law adopted in 2019 and known as Bill 21 bans many public sector employees, including teachers, police officers and judges, from wearing religious symbols at work, which critics say infringes on their rights....