Bill 21 is a moderate bill on secularism compared to what is practised in Europe.
Bambi has several older posts on this topic (most if not all are shown at the end of this post).
Very briefly, Bill 21 is a bill made by Québec for Québec.
This bill respects the history and culture of the secular Québec.
This bill bans ALL religious symbols in those working for the government who are in positions of authority.
This bill was voted by a majority government. It is supported by the majority of Québeckers, including Muslims and Arabs. However, of course, our mainstream media funded by our federal government will not show us this side of this story.
This being said, Bambi just learned from a quick tour of the English- and French-Canadian media about the latest Canadian nonsense: Municipal councils across the country are adopting motions to help fight Québec’s Bill 21 in court. When will our federal government and woke-oriented municipalities (https://globalnews.ca/news/8456407/brampton-toronto-fight-quebec-bill-21/) stop their campaign against Québec? Until they understand that it is none of their business to interfere with Québec matters, here is a song for all of them from Bambi…
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I can understand that some people want to wear and display their religious symbols everywhere and in any situation because they want their religion to determine their whole lives. But our societies are religiously diverse, and a government official during work hours represents not his or her religion, but the state in its necessary religious neutrality. They represent equality of every citizen before the law, not their religious identity. They are there to serve everyone and thus it’s an expression of the willingness to be impartial to strip themselves of religious symbols in the context of their role as government officials. In public educational institutions the banning of religious symbols expresses the mission of the institution to serve the pursuit of knowledge and truth regardless of identities and potential biases. Of course this is theoretically possible without banning religious symbols from government institutions, but this would require mature self-reflection of everyone involved in the process. Because what meets the eye is very powerful. Theoretically the inclusive vision for the public sphere might be more beautiful than the naked neutrality of banning symbols. Practically I think the by-product of allowing religious symbols in the governmental sphere in the long run could be a loss of the sense of everyone’s equal rights and equal responsibility as a citoyen for the common good and a loss of the sense that our shared humanity must trump identity concerns on the level of the larger society. And in the field of education a loss of the sense for the universality (“university”) of knowledge, attainable to everyone if they are ready to strip themselves of blinding biases.
Many thanks, Achim, for your great insights.
For anyone who wants to pick on Quebec, or pick on Quebec for attacking religion, here is an actual reason:
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/raymond-j-de-souza-o-come-all-ye-faithful-faithfully-vaccinated-that-is
(not that New Brunswick is much better, if at all)
It is so strange to become that strict now, compared to before when we did not have any vaccine and when we know that Omicron seems to be more contagious, but less dangerous than for instance the Delta variant. Bambi inquired about the practices in Beirut around this topic. Not in all places of worship. Not in all churches. She just asked her dad. She understood the following: Masks and distancing are a MUST and we are rather severe with these measures. As for the vaccine status, no one asks about such a private question. In other terms, everyone is welcome to come to pray, as long as they wear a mask and sit far from the person next to them. There may be even 2 (not even 3!) people per bench. Those who do not find a place to sit may wish to watch the service on a screen outside OR maybe seated separately in the higher levels of the church.