MontrealThe Quebec government has passed a law extending the province’s ban on religious symbols to everyone who interacts with students in schools, in a bid to strengthen secularism.Law extends ban on religious symbols to all school staff who interact with studentsThe Canadian Press · Posted: Oct 31, 2025 12:32 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 2 minutesAn empty classroom in Longueuil, Que., is seen here. Quebec has passed a law extending the ban on religious symbols to all school staff members who interact with students. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press)The Quebec government has passed a law extending the province’s ban on religious symbols to everyone who interacts with students in schools.The law also prohibits students from wearing face coverings in a bid to strengthen secularism in schools.The new legislation expands on a secularism law from 2019 that banned religious symbols for public employees deemed to be in positions of authority, including teachers, judges and police officers.The new legislation extends that ban to all school staff, including psychologists, janitors and cafeteria workers, and to people who offer services to students but who are not employees, such as library volunteers.The bill was tabled following a government investigation of a Montreal elementary school last year, which found that a group of teachers had imposed autocratic rule at the school.The report highlighted that many of the teachers in that group were of Maghrebi origin. Though the report also stated that teachers in an opposing camp were also of Maghrebi origin, some of the actions outlined in that report sparked concerns that teachers at the school were imposing their religious views on students.The government has also promised to extend the religious symbols ban to daycare workers. With files from CBC News
Quebec government adopts secularism bill forcing students to uncover faces
