Defending Campus Ministry and Religious Expression
CLF's Submissions to Québec’s National Assembly on Bill 9
Today, Christian Legal Fellowship (CLF) filed written submissions with the Québec National Assembly Committee on Citizen Relations. In its brief, CLF shares concerns about mounting legislative suppression of religious expression in Québec in the name of laïcité (secularism), now with the introduction of Bill 9, An Act respecting the reinforcement of laicity in Québec.
CLF’s brief (reproduced below) calls on the Québec government to embrace a more inclusive vision of laicity as articulated in Canada’s human rights jurisprudence.
As previously reported, CLF is deeply troubled by Bill 9, which proposes to generally ban “all religious practice” in certain public institutions like colleges and universities, and to prohibit “collective religious practice” within any public parks or on public sidewalks and footpaths without prior municipal authorization. It also proposes a number of other restrictions, including revoking and/or denying accreditation for subsidies for religious private schools.
Bill 9 defines “religious practice” very broadly to include “any action, except the wearing of a religious symbol, that may reasonably constitute, in fact or in appearance, the manifestation of a religious conviction or belief”.
CLF’s brief expresses a number of legal concerns about the ways that Bill 9 excludes openly religious individuals from public life and inverts the State’s duty of neutrality by requiring private citizens to abstain from religious expression. CLF’s explains why Bill 9’s measures could have devastating social impacts if passed into law, especially if it suppresses the ability of religious groups, including CLF’s own student chapters, from engaging in campus activities. CLF’s brief appends several testimonials from law students and lawyers attesting to the importance of communities of faith on campus in their own spiritual and professional journeys.
“Prayer cannot be limited to temples or churches. It is a fundamentally human instinct which happens anywhere and everywhere. To place limits upon it is effectively to attempt to cage human freedom.
Universities are places for learning, to be sure. But humans with complexities go to university. They show up with financial issues, trauma, and stress, and all the while they must study. But those stresses are not hung on the coat rack as soon as they enter a space. For some of us, having space for prayer is our only respite. It’s our safe place. I have lived extremely lonely moments during my university years due to a mental health condition. I’ve had Christian students pray with me on the steps of the faculty and that brought me hope and belonging. That made university better. ”
Bill 9 excludes openly religious citizens from public life
The Minister Responsible for Laicity previously stated that Bill 9 does not unfairly target religious minorities because “we have the same rules applying to everyone”.
CLF explains in our brief that the effect of Bill 9 will be to marginalize and exclude religious minorities from freely accessing and using public spaces (including public school and university spaces) on equal terms with non-religious citizens.
This is because Bill 9 does not target any activity in itself — such as singing, debating, book studies, meetings, or demonstrations. Rather, it targets the religious nature of all kinds of activities. It seems that, under Bill 9, students can gather to exchange ideas, but not religious ideas; they can sing together, so long as the songs are not “religious”; they can recite poetry, but not prayers; they can host book studies, but not Bible studies.
“A law that targets not an activity but what a person should think about when performing that activity is an extraordinary violation of the very freedoms of conscience and religion that the Act respecting the laicity of the State purports to uphold.”
Neutrality is required of the state, not private citizens
Bill 9’s promotion of laïcité inverts the state’s duty of neutrality and accommodation on citizens by forcing them — including children — to hide fundamental aspects of their religious identity and conform to the State’s (ir)religious posture, contrary to the principles of the Québec and Canadian Charters.
The principle of secularism, articulated in our human rights jurisprudence, requires the state to adopt a posture of openness — not suspicion or hostility — toward religious beliefs and practice.
State neutrality, properly understood, requires that “the state must not interfere in religion and beliefs. The state must instead remain neutral in this regard. This neutrality requires that the state neither favour nor hinder any particular belief” (Saguenay, 2015 SCC 16 at para 72, emphasis added). Moreover, this neutrality “is required of institutions and the state, not individuals” (Saguenay, 2015 SCC 16 at para 74, emphasis added).
The State’s duty of neutrality cannot prohibit religious citizens from accessing, on equal terms as others, a space that is publicly available for use. Rather, this duty must protect such equal treatment.
“In Québec and Canada, students and citizens are not required to be religiously neutral. The government is.”
Perhaps the most drastic measure of Bill 9 is its blanket prohibition on all “collective religious practice” within any public parks or on public sidewalks and footpaths — unless approval is pre-obtained by “resolution of the municipal council” which will only be granted “exceptionally and on a case-by-case basis”. This is reminiscent of the mid-20th century, when certain provinces and municipalities tried to limit evangelistic activities. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled such limits were beyond the legislative jurisdiction of municipalities and provinces.
CLF’s brief acknoweldges that there are legitimate concerns about the ways that religion might be misused. But it is the potential misuse of religion that the law should target, not religion itself.
bill 9’s broader societal impacts
Finally, CLF expressed concern with the broader societal impact of Bill 9: the undermining of the social, religious, and educational communities that make up Québec society and serve its people. As these communities and their supporting institutions are undermined, they will be less able to support each other — vocationally, emotionally, financially, and spiritually — and the burden on the provincial government will dramatically increase.
CLF highlights as an example the many benefits of having religious student groups in 20 of Canada’s law schools, including in Québec.
The testimonials appended to CLF’s brief paint a clear picture of all that could be lost should Bill 9 pass into law in Québec — all that student communities of faith can and do offer: mentorship, belonging, support, and a safe place to explore one’s philosophical and theological commitments and to wrestle with issues raised in classes or elsewhere. This sense of belonging contributes to increased mental and physical health, improved academic performance, a greater likelihood that students will complete their studies, and more.
“As a person born with multiple amputations, I have always faced the extra pressure to perform… with the pressure peaking as I made my way through law school. Imposter syndrome was very real there. There were many restless nights where I doubted my ability to make it through.
In law school, the thing that helped me most was a group that accepted me for who I am. A group that saw me as a person and not my appearance or my achievements. It was a community where I was allowed to just be present. That group I am referring to was a Christian student group for students and led by students. I can honestly say that the support from my peers there was instrumental in getting me through law school.
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CLF remains committed to advocating for the full and equal participation of religious citizens in public life. Religious inclusion in society, and especially in independent institutions such as colleges and universities, is core to respecting religious freedom, expression, assembly, and equality in Canada.
“I still vividly recall my days in law school at a very large public university at a time in life when I struggled mightily with anxiety. A lifeline to me was the opportunity to gather together with other Christian law students at the law school on our university campus to spend time together. ... I cannot imagine that the country of my birth, a land of cherished personal freedoms, could become a place where the opportunity that I had to gather together in public spaces with other men and women of faith for the purpose of helping, supporting and praying for each other would be prohibited by the laws of the land.”
READ CLF’S brief TO THE québec NATIONAL ASSEMBLY committee on citizen relations
Version française
English Version
Further Reading
Read CLF’s analysis of Bill 9 and Québec’s restrictions on prayer
Read CLF Executive Director Derek Ross’s column on Bill 9 in the Montreal Gazette
CLF’s intervention factum in the Bill 21 litigation (Supreme Court of Canada)
CLF’s position on the constitutional challenge to Bill 21
CLF’s advocacy on religious freedom and equality in Québec
CLF’s intervention in the challenge to Québec’s 2023 ban of student-initiated religious practices on school grounds
CLF’s defence of religious groups’ access to public services and spaces in Québec
CLF’s support of “advancement of religion” as a charitable purpose in Québec and Canada