“This fall, we will therefore introduce a bill to strengthen secularism in Quebec, in particular by banning street prayers,” Secularism Minister Jean-Francois Roberge said in public in a statement on Aug. 28, though he offered no further details on how such a law would work in practice.

Premier François Legault had floated the idea of a ban in Dec. 2024, following a report on breaches of Quebec’s secularism code by Muslim staff at a school in Laval.

“Seeing people praying in the streets, in public parks, is not something we want in Quebec,” he said, adding in that same conference that he wanted to send “a very clear message to the Islamists.”

The government also plans to strengthen its existing secularism laws, which already prohibit teachers and other public employees from donning religious symbols, to include anyone who has contact with students, including support workers and parent volunteers.

Quebec faith groups have denounced the potential ban and the Canadian Civil Liberties Union has called it an infringement on freedoms of expression, religion and association.

Several Pontiac clergy who spoke with THE EQUITY said that they were following the news, but had more questions than answers at this point.

Rev. Eric Morin with the Anglican Parish of West Quebec said that he was baffled by how such a rule would be enforced but was waiting to hear more details.

“I’m sure most organized religions are keeping an eye on this and seeing where it goes,” he said.

Father Michael Smith, the parish priest for Fort Coulonge, Waltham and Otter Lake, said that the move seemed like a response to ongoing pro-Palistinian marches in downtown Montreal, some of which have featured public Muslim prayers. He too questioned the feasibility of such a rule.

“From what I understand, it has its origin in a number of demonstrations by Muslims which involved the disruption of traffic,” he said. “My reading of the proposal is that it strikes me as an overreaction to what is essentially a public order issue. This isn’t a religious issue, it’s a public order issue. If any group is disrupting traffic, the laws we currently have in place are sufficient to deal with such matters.”

Smith added that there were some troubling undertones in the broader debates over laïcité, as some rules seem targeted at specific groups or cultures and not others.

“There seems to be a nervousness about other cultures, other traditions, and I think it’s really necessary to appeal to the more generous side of people’s nature and say that we are a pluralistic society where various groups of different persuasions have a right to express themselves in public,” he said. “That, to me, would be a very fair understanding of laïcité, where the government does not espouse any one religion, but where the various religions existing in the province, and people of no faith or agnostics, also have the right to express themselves in public.”

Both Morin and Smith said that their congregations occasionally have public processions or events that feature public prayer, but both coordinate with local municipalities if their actions might impede traffic. Morin pointed out that public prayer is common at otherwise secular events as well.

“Remembrance Day ceremonies, up in the Pontiac in particular, there is a moment for a prayer, which is part and parcel of all the presentations,” he said. “Now, is that a government sanctioned gathering to the point where they can enforce that you can’t pray publicly? I just have a lot of questions.”

He added that it’s also not clear how authorities will define the act of praying itself.

“It makes me go, ‘Ok, what do you mean by prayer?’ If you’re sitting quietly on a park bench, are you praying in public, is that public prayer?” he said.

‘Just a distraction’

Pontiac MNA André Fortin said that he saw the proposal as a desperate attempt for the Legault government to change the channel on the ongoing controversies surrounding the SAAQclic public inquiry and the loss of hundreds of millions of tax dollars in the scrapped Northvolt battery project. He said that public order issues don’t require this kind of sweeping legislation.

“Those powers are very much in the hands of municipalities, with the rules around certain types of gatherings and events,” he said. “So this to us is just a distraction, it’s just the CAQ looking to change the narrative from poor public services in health and education and poor performance on fiscal management.”

When asked if he thought Quebec’s existing secularism laws needed strengthening, Fortin said that his party voted against the existing laicite laws.

Smith, who has lived in various regions of Quebec since the 1970s, said he suspected the law wouldn’t get far.

“I doubt very much that [the law will move forward],” he said. “Reasonable opposition is being published to it in various newspapers and other media outlets and I really think the government is going to think twice. In fact, floating it now strikes me as more of a trial balloon than anything else, but that’s just my hunch.”

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