Minority rights' activists and the federal government are warning Quebec's new government to tread lightly in restricting the wearing of religious symbols in the workplace.
This comes as Premier-designate Francois Legault said he would be willing to use the notwithstanding clause to impose what he called the will of the majority, even if it violated the Charter of Rights.
"If we have to use the notwithstanding clause to apply what we want, the vast majority will agree," said Legault.
On Wedesday, as the newly-elected Coalition Avenir Quebec MNAs met in Boucherville Genevieve Guilbault, the representative for the Quebec City riding of Louis-Hebert, said that civil servants could lose their jobs over the issue.
Guilbault said that police officers, judges, prosecutors, prison guards, and teachers would only have themselves to blame for losing their jobs since they would be favouring their religious views over employment.
Meanwhile Prime Minister Justin Trudeau cautioned Legault and the CAQ to think before brandishing the notwithstanding clause to get its way.
"It's not something that should be done lightly because to remove or avoid defending the fundamental rights of Canadians, I think it's something with which you have to pay careful attention," Trudeau said.
"As you know very well, I'm not of the opinion that the state should be able to tell a woman what she can wear, nor what she cannot wear. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms is there to protect our rights and our freedom."
Other critics have said what Legault is proposing is not secular -- but an aggressive use of the state to ban the public expression of certain religions.
Fo Niemi of the human rights group CRARR said that the CAQ is already generating ill will and fear.
"Socially, culturally, economically, politically, I think the message is very clear. We're basically in the name of secularity, in the name of a religion-free state, we're going to marginalize and discriminate against Jews and Muslims and Sikhs in Quebec," said Niemi.
"It's a very, very devastating message to send to the world."
Legault's plan is deeply concerning to Shaheen Ashraf of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women. She says ultimately it's a human rights issue.
"If a person like me wants to be a police woman, or wants to be a teacher or wants to be in the public service or in politics, I can’t?" she said. "I mean where’s my Canada?"
Ashraf also said it feels like 2013 all over again.
"You know it’s the same thing that happened when Marois started the secular charter, charte des valeurs," she said.
Section 33 of the Charter of Rights has rarely been used across Canada, but earlier this year Ontario Premier Doug Ford threatened to use it to rush through changes to the number of councillors in the city of Toronto during an election campaign.
The notwithstanding clause was also used by every single law passed in Quebec between 1982 and 1985 as a protest movement, as the Parti Quebecois government of the day objected to the patriation of the Canadian Constitution.
It was last used in Quebec in 1988 to limit the use of languages other than French in commercial signs -- but that law was eventually rewritten after it was criticized by the United Nations.
