It wasn't supposed to happen, but happen it did. Having thrown off the shackles of clericalism and everything else Catholic, the once-pious province—a Quebec steeped in the life of a church seen as sole protector of French identity, culture, and religion in the New World—has embraced a new form of dogmatism and intolerance: the radical secularism of laïcité.
On June 16, a week after Pentecost, the National Assembly in Quebec City passed Bill 21, a draconian law intended to address the challenges of religious pluralism. Following a marathon session, and after weeks of protest and political wrangling, the government of Premier François Legault's Coalition Avenir Québec succeeded in passing its controversial legislation. The bill bans police, civil servants, teachers, government lawyers, jail guards, and other state employees from wearing any form of religious garment—the Sikh turban, the Jewish kippa, the Muslim hijab, niqab, and burka, and the Christian cross—while on the job. Those currently under contract will be grandfathered, although any change in their status—promotion, lateral transfer or the like—will require compliance with the new legislation. And so within a short time, the crucifix hanging over the speaker's chair in the National Assembly will be removed, in the spirit of the new laïcité, Quebec-style.
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