Quebec bans student-initiated “religious practices” such as “overt prayers” in public schools

On April 5, 2023, after being “made aware of various prayer practices taking place in certain public schools in Quebec”[i], Quebec’s Education Minister Bernard Drainville announced that the province would forbid the use of any school space for student-led prayers. Minister Drainville emphasized that students who wanted to pray should do so “discreetly” and “silently”.[ii] The same day, Quebec’s National Assembly unanimously passed a motion stating that “the putting in place of prayer areas, regardless of confession, in public school rooms goes against the principle of secularism.”[iii]

The move reportedly followed complaints about “two cases of schools in Laval where students could gather in a room to pray”, something the Minister said was contrary to the spirit of Quebec’s law on secularism.[iv]

That law - Bill 21 - is currently the subject of a constitutional challenge, and is under review by the Court of Appeal of Quebec. Bill 21 prohibits certain public sector workers, including schoolteachers and government lawyers, from wearing religious symbols at work. The Bill affirms that that the “State of Québec is a lay State” and “considers State laicity to be of fundamental importance.” It also requires public bodies, including school bodies, to comply with such principles as “the separation of State and religions” and “the religious neutrality of the State”, though it says nothing about the ability of students to pray in school.

Still, Bill 21 was cited as an authority for Quebec’s official directive restricting student prayer, issued on April 19, 2023. That directive states that under Bill 21, all persons have the right to secular institutions and secular public services, and that “the arrangement of premises used for religious practices in a public school, vocational training centre or adult education centre is incompatible with the principle of the religious neutrality of the State”.[v] It also states that:

“students have the right to be protected from any direct or indirect pressure intended to expose them or to influence them in a manner so that they participate in a religious practice”,
“a representative of the State cannot, in the exercise of their functions, show preference to one or more religions, for example by supervising or otherwise endorsing the organization of religious practices”, and
“setting up premises for the purposes of religious practices is likely to have an impact on the proper functioning of schools”.[vi]

The directive orders all school service centres subject to the Education Act to “ensure that in each of their schools and in each of their centres that no location is used, both in fact and in appearance, for the purposes of religious practices such as overt prayers or other similar practices”.[vii]

It remains unclear how exactly this policy will be implemented, and questions have been raised about what constitutes an “overt prayer”. For example, Québec Solidaire's spokesperson for education, Ruba Ghazal, described the policy as “neither clear nor enforceable”: “Are the teachers going to watch the halls and the schoolyards in case [students gather to pray]?”[viii]

In a recent op ed for The Globe and Mail, CLF’s Derek Ross explains that a blanket ban on student prayer in school spaces is unconstitutional:

A policy prohibiting students from praying in school spaces (other than “silently”) does not meet [the Constitution’s] standard. Nor does it advance religious neutrality. True neutrality is achieved not by silencing prayer, but by accommodating students of all faiths, and none, to participate fully and equally in our public education system.[ix]

Ross goes on to argue:

While Bill 21 doesn’t ban student-led prayer in school spaces, such a move would seem to be a natural by-product of its messaging. Bill 21 essentially treats religion as something to be suppressed and removed from public life. Once it became a problem for teachers to be openly religious, it seemed only a matter of time for it to become an issue for students too. And if students’ prayers offend the state’s vision of secularism, which of their expressions of faith might be restricted next?[x]

CLF, which is intervening in the Bill 21 constitutional challenge, is closely monitoring this new policy and its implementation in Quebec.

[i] “Déclaration du ministre de l'Éducation, M. Bernard Drainville” (19 April 2023), online: < https://www.newswire.ca/fr/news-releases/declaration-du-ministre-de-l-education-m-bernard-drainville-812894404.html > (unofficial translation).

[ii] Caroline Plante, “Quebec to ban prayer rooms in public schools, says only ‘silent’ praying allowed”, Montreal Gazette, 5 April 2023, online: <https://montrealgazette.com/news/quebec/quebec-to-ban-prayer-rooms-in-public-schools-says-only-silent-praying-allowed>.

[iii] Ibid.

[iv] Canadian Press, “Quebec Muslim leaders 'outraged' over school prayer room ban”, CTV News Montreal, 6 April 2023, online: <https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/quebec-muslim-leaders-outraged-over-school-prayer-room-ban-1.6346766>.

[v] “Directive from the Minister of Education regarding religious practices in public schools, vocational training centres and adult education centres”, published in GAZETTE OFFICIELLE DU QUÉBEC, May 3, 2023, Vol. 155, No. 18, online: <https://www.publicationsduquebec.gouv.qc.ca/fileadmin/gazette/pdf_encrypte/lois_reglements/2023A/106228.pdf>

[vi] Ibid.

[vii] Ibid.

[viii] CBC News, “Quebec bans use of classrooms as prayer spaces”, 20 April 2023, online: <https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-bans-use-of-classrooms-as-prayer-spaces-1.6816424>

[ix] Derek Ross, “Banning student-initiated prayer in school spaces is unconstitutional, and unjust”, The Globe and Mail, 11 April 2023, online: < https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-banning-student-initiated-prayer-in-school-spaces-is-unconstitutional/>

[x] Ibid.