N.B. This post was prepared prior to the August 2017 amendments proposed by the Liberal Party of Quebec. As part of its campaign promises, Quebec’s Liberal Party had committed to a bill that would ensure the “neutrality” of the state… Read More ›
Charter of Values
Prayers at municipal council discriminatory: Analysis of the Supreme Court’s decision
April 15, 2015: For years now, municipal leaders in Quebec have started council meetings with prayers, arguing that although Quebec is a secular society, the religious trappings of crucifixes, sacred heart statues and flashing red votive lights are merely the traditional… Read More ›
The PQ Fall, the Notwithstanding Clause and International Human Rights Law
The Parti Quebecois government has come and gone, and people may remember the March 31 announcement that Pauline Marois planned to invoke the notwithstanding clause as merely one more political ploy gone bad in a disastrous campaign. That would be… Read More ›
Bill60: Equality and Feminist Perspectives on the Charter of Values
Issues, implications and challenges faced by women and equality seeking groups, All women panel of researchers, activists and lawyers. “Everything covered by her eyes, what a cruel male-dominated culture”; “Nothing covered but her eyes, what a cruel male-dominated culture”
A Guide to the Quebec Charter of Values
This Guide is designed to provide information to individuals and organizations lacking the wherewithal to retain legal counsel to prepare an analysis of the Bill and its compliance with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms with respect to the… Read More ›
Quebec’s human rights commission comes out against Charterof Values
This morning, Québec’s human rights commission released a communiqué and a twenty-seven page legal analysis, setting out its concerns about the proposed Charter of Values. The Commission, which has consistently upheld minority rights, rights of religious minorities, and equality rights… Read More ›
Health care workers: 100% have no issues with religious signs
The morning, the L’Association québécoise des établissements de santé et des services sociaux (Quebec Association of Health and Social Services Establishments- AQESSS) released a poll of its members. Sixty percent responded. One hundred percent of respondents said that they do… Read More ›
Why the Charter of values is bad for Quebec, Canada and the world
There are two sentences that, when put together, signal danger in any society. The first is, “our country is for us” and the second is “our own culture and heritage come first”. I have heard them used to justify female… Read More ›
Quebec charter of values violates human rights
Globe and Mail (August 22 2013) Pearl Eliadis Pauline Marois’s PQ government is planning to make good on a promise to introduce a secularism charter that will oust religious minorities from public life. No one outside government has seen the… Read More ›
