Clash over Quebec's Bill 21 exposes deep divide between federal, provincial governments
Recent arguments at the Supreme Court of Canada may soon impact how governments regulate employees’ religious expression, hiring practices and equality rights in public‑sector workplaces across the country.
Discussions over Quebec’s secularism law, Bill 21, have exposed a sharp divide between Ottawa and several provinces on how far governments can go in using the Charter’s notwithstanding clause – and what role courts should retain once that clause is invoked.
Bill 21 – adopted in 2019 – bars certain public servants, including teachers, from wearing religious symbols at work. Quebec shielded the law from Charter challenges by invoking Section 33, the notwithstanding clause, on a pre‑emptive basis. The law has twice been upheld in lower courts.
At hearings this week in Ottawa, the federal government – backed by Manitoba and British Columbia – urged the Supreme Court to confirm that courts may still issue non‑binding declarations that laws invoking Section 33 violate Charter rights, even when judges cannot strike them down.
Manitoba’s lawyer Deborah Carlson told the court “there is nothing in Section 33 that precludes post‑enactment judicial scrutiny,” CBC News reported. She argued that declaratory rulings would give voters vital information about the impact of laws that override rights.
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