Confusion, questions as Quebec schools forced to apply ban on religious symbols

Lisa Starr's job is to find internships for prospective teachers. Her task for next fall just got more complicated, now that Quebec'sban on religious symbols has been passed into law.

"I think there's a lot of confusion and a lot of questions," said Starr, a professor in McGill University's faculty of education.

While classes are finished for the summer, Starr said several university studentswho wear religious symbols have contacted her to find out whether their school placement will still go ahead next fall.

She said it's not clear if the ban applies to student teachers, who aren't yet public employees.

To avoid any problems, one of them has already found an alternative placement ata private school. Private schoolsaren't covered by the new law,which prohibits public school teachers from wearing a hijab,kippa, turban or visible crucifix at work.

"We don't support the bill. We don't believe in what it says, but at the same time we're working with students who are affected by it," Starrsaid.

"It puts our students, I think, in an unsafe environment and certainly not one that is conducive to learning about teaching."

CSDMto delay applying law

Representatives from several Quebec school boards and teachers'unions say they, too, are still trying to figure out exactly how to apply the province's new secularism law.

The province's largest school board, the French-language Commission scolaire de Montral(CSDM), voted unanimously Wednesday to delay applying it.

That hasn't sat well withthe Coalition Avenir Qubec government.

"The Quebec government is firmly determined to ensure the obligations stemming fromthe law are followed. No delay will be tolerated," Immigration Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette said Thursday, in a statement issued jointly with Education Minister Jean-Franois Roberge.

CSDM Chair Catherine Harel-Bourdon said her board will do its best to apply the law, even as the school board grapples with a teacher shortage.

And like other boards, the CSDM is uncertain about when it should be enforced.

Itmust be applied retroactively, because teachershired beforeMarch 29, 2019 are exempt from the religious symbols ban, under a grandfather clause. But they will lose the exemption if they move to another school or take up another position, such as accepting a promotion to the principal's office.

"There's a lot of work to do," she said Thursday. "We have 9,000 teachers."

"Who was hired before March?"

Harel-Bourdon, who had expressed concern about Bill 21 before it became law, said there needs to be clear, concise rules to ensure everyone properly follows them.

She raised the hypothetical situation of an emergency substitute for instance, a daycare educator, whonormally works in the school's before- and after-school program, brought in to supervise a class during a snowstorm. Is it OK for that person to wear a religious symbol?

The answer is unclear, she said.

'Questionable logic'

Heidi Yetman, president of the 8,000-strong Quebec Provincial Association of Teachers, said shetooisn't surehow the law applies to her members. She's been fieldingcalls from school board officials, who have their own questions.

She said there's confusion about whether substitute teachersare subject to the ban.

"It feels like a grey zone. If you're on a priority list, you have a connection with the school board," she said.

"The advice that we're given right now is, if you have a link to a school board, you are considered grandfathered."

The Lester B. Pearson School Boardadopted a resolution opposing the bill even before it was passed. Its chair, Noel Burke, said the Pearsonboard's lawyers are reviewing the final version of the law.

Burke said there's "questionable logic" in the legislation. He, too, raised the example of employees of before- and after-school daycares, who work in the schools. Theyare allowed to wear religious symbols, but teachers supervisingthe very same studentsarenot.

Representatives from the New Frontier School Board andthe French-languageCommission scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys also said they are analyzing the law to determine how to proceed.