Quebec plans to table bill banning prayer in public

The Quebec government intends to present a bill banning prayer in public.

Secularism Minister Jean-François Roberge said in a statement Thursday that the "proliferation of street prayer is a serious and sensitive issue."

"The premier of Quebec has given me the mandate to strengthen secularism, and I am determined to fulfil this mandate diligently," he said.

"This fall, we will therefore introduce a bill to strengthen secularism in Quebec, in particular by banning street prayers."

His statement follows months of efforts by the Coalition Avenir Québec government to reinforce secularism in the province, which includes adopting a law that requires immigrants to embrace the common culture of the province and tabling a bill to expand the province's religious symbols law to include school support staff.

The statement from Roberge on Thursday provided no details as to how the government would legislate against prayer in public, but Premier François Legault has said his government would not rule out using the notwithstanding clause.

"Seeing people praying in the streets, in public parks, is not something we want in Quebec," Legault said in December, saying he wanted to send a "very clear message to Islamists."

"When we want to pray, we go to a church, we go to a mosque, but not in public places. And yes, we will look at the means where we can act legally or otherwise."

Images of Muslims praying in Montreal made headlines last summer, and, last month, a viral video showing Muslims praying outside the Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal garnered more than 85,000 likes on X.

But members of other faiths also hold public events in Quebec, including the Way of the Cross procession led by the Catholic Archbishop of Montreal on Good Friday.

Roberge's announcement also comes just days after an advisory committee recommended the government expand its secularism law, known as Bill 21, to bar early childhood educators in the province's subsidized daycare network from wearing religious symbols.

The committee, chaired by Guillaume Rousseau and Christine Pelchat, two lawyers that have previously defended Bill 21 in court, did not, however, recommend the government ban prayer in public, suggesting instead that it leave the issue to individual municipalities.

The committee's nearly 300-page report, the product of a five-month review, said only that municipalities should enact measures to regulate religious events.

Nevertheless, Roberge said the committee's report played a role in the decision to present a new bill banning public prayer.

"Thanks to the discussions in caucus and the committee's report, our reflections on several aspects of secularism are well advanced," he said.

Legault's Coalition Avenir Québec government has been suffering in opinion polls and recently lost its third consecutive byelection to the sovereignist Parti Québécois.

The secularism committee's report does broach the subject of public prayer, but it says municipalities already have the "necessary competences" to regulate collective street prayer and it says Bill 21 gives them additional powers.

"The committee is concerned about these issues, just as it is concerned about respect for individual freedoms," the report says.

"Our position is one of moderation, striking a balance between the risks of abuses that run counter to Quebec's collective values and the preservation of religious practices that do not unduly interfere with public order and respect the purpose of public spaces, which must be accessible to the entire population."