The Challenges of a Secular Quebec

In 2019, the Quebec National Assembly passed Bill 21. It prohibits, among other things, certain state employees in positions of authority (including teachers, prison guards, police officers, and justices of the peace) from wearing religious symbols when providing public services. Many political commentators in English Canada denounced the law as running counter to Canadian multiculturalism and human rights. Why did the Quebec government adopt this particular form of state secularism? And why did it garner public support? The Challenges of a Secular Quebec analyzes the statute from different angles to provide a nuanced, respectful discussion of its intentions and principles that recognizes the province’s singular history in North America.