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Results for tag:Canada

Young women wearing the fleur de lys, a symbol of Quebec. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz.

Legislative Catharsis, Part One: A Primer on Québec’s Veil Bans for Europeans

Date:22 May 2019
Author:Muhammad Velji
The Canadian province of Québec is currently debating Bill 21, “an Act respecting the laicity [secularity] of the State," which would ban certain public officials from performing their duties while wearing religious symbols (and would require those seeking public services to do so with their faces "uncovered.") Although it has been widely criticized as an attack on Québec's Muslim population, the Bill retains significant public support. In this two-part primer, philosopher Muhammad Velji explains how such "veil bans" came to be thinkable in contemporary Canada, starting with the "Quiet Revolution" of the 1960s.