A Quebec Superior Court docket justice Wednesday denied a request for an emergency injunction in opposition to a ban on prayer rooms in faculties that was instituted by the provincial authorities last month.
In a joint problem, the Canadian Civil Liberties Affiliation (CCLA) and the Nationwide Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) argued on behalf of a Muslim scholar that the ban unconstitutionally limits college students’ civil rights and non secular freedoms. Justice Granosik, nonetheless, reasoned that as a result of common lessons have ended for the summer time, and since the problem was not launched instantly when the ban was introduced, there is no such thing as a clear and pressing purpose to droop the rule earlier than a full trial.
He did, nonetheless, note that there are “critical questions” in regards to the ban’s constitutionality.
“There’s a head-on collision concerning the usage of public area,” Granosik reasoned, “between the prohibition of overt prayer and non secular follow and the secular standing of this area; it’s a provided that the infringement of spiritual freedom continues.”
Whereas Quebec Training Minister Bernard Drainville stated that college students may nonetheless pray “silently” and “discreetly,” others have identified that Muslim prayer requires bodily motion, and so can’t be accommodated below the ban. CCLA Director of Equality Applications Harini Sivalingam argued that as a result of prayer rooms are solely utilized by a “handful” of scholars, the Quebec authorities is “attempting to unravel an issue that doesn’t actually exist.”
After the ruling, Sivalingam stated that “Regardless of this disappointing consequence, the court docket indicated that the prohibition on seen prayers in faculties leads to irreparable hurt to spiritual college students in Quebec.”
“We’ll proceed to face up for the rights and freedoms of Quebec college students.”
The prayer room ban displays Quebec’s official policy of state secularism, or laïcité. Proponents assert that the coverage of laïcité protects democratic and Quebecois values, however others argue it has resulted in laws which prohibit non secular freedoms and discriminate in opposition to non secular and ethnic minorities.
Source / Picture: jurist.org
