Quebec Has Become a Bastion of Religious Intolerance

Premier François Legault wants to ban prayers in public spaces, his latest crusade for religious intolerance. 

Legault’s rationale is that Quebec is a secular state, as reinforced by “Quebec values.” He isn’t the first politician to use Quebec nationalism as a pretext for religious suppression.

In 2013, Premier Pauline Marois, with the Parti Québécois, proposed to ban religious symbols from public institutions. Banning private religious schools, particularly Jewish schools in Montreal, has been at the core of public debate since Jean Charest.