Excerpts
Quebec has officially expanded its secularism law, in adopting Bill 9, An Act respecting the reinforcement of laicity in Quebec, a sweeping law that tightens rules around religious symbols, prayer, accommodations and institutional practices across childcare, education, health care and other publicly funded sectors.
Bill 9 primarily amends the Act respecting the laicity of the state and enacts a new Act to foster religious neutrality, in particular in the public space. The revised preamble states that “state laicity constitutes a foundation of national integration” and that the framework “gives full effect to every person’s freedom of conscience and freedom of religion.”
The law also clarifies that laicity is a standard of conduct for staff. A new section provides that state laicity “requires every personnel member of a body to act, in the exercise of their functions, so as not to treat a person favourably or unfavourably because of the person’s religious affiliation or non-affiliation… or because of the religious convictions or beliefs of a person in authority or the absence of such religious convictions or beliefs.”
The Quebec government tabled the legislation to further tighten secularism rules back in November 2025.
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Expanded religious symbol bans, including childcare
Bill 9 significantly widens the scope of the existing prohibition on religious symbols under the Act respecting the laicity of the State.
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The group also points to recent criticism from the United Nations Human Rights Committee. On 23 March, the Committee expressed concern that the 2019 Laicity of the State Act “perpetuates discrimination by disproportionately targeting religious minorities, particularly Muslim women who wear the hijab,” and voiced concern that Bill 9 “would intensify the discriminatory effects associated with Bill 21.” It recommended that the government review “all relevant laws and practices, including Bills 21, 94, and 9, with a view to removing any restrictions that exceed the strict limits permitted under Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.”