Canadian Muslims Take to Streets in Anger After Quebec Pushes Forward With Ban on Public Prayer | The Gateway Pundit | by Ben Kew


Canadian Muslims Take to Streets in Anger After Quebec Pushes Forward With Ban on Public Prayer

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Muslims participating in a large outdoor prayer gathering on a city street, surrounded by historic buildings and onlookers.
Image of Muslims praying in the street by Grok AI

The Canadian province of Quebec is planning to ban all public prayer as part of an aggressive push toward secularization.

Quebec’s secularism minister, Jean-François Roberge, said the laws were designed to accelerate his push toward secularization.

The Guardian reports:

Quebec says it will intensify its crackdown on public displays of religion in a sweeping new law that critics say pushes Canadian provinces into private spaces and disproportionately affects Muslims.

Bill 9, introduced by the governing Coalition Avenir Québec on Thursday, bans prayer in public institutions, including in colleges and universities.

It also bans communal prayer on public roads and in parks, with the threat of fines of C$1,125 for groups in contravention of the prohibition. Short public events with prior approval are exempt.

CAQ has made secularism a key legislative priority, passing the controversial Bill 21 – which bans some public sector employees from wearing religious symbol – in 2019.

It plans to extend that prohibition to anyone working in daycares, colleges, universities and private schools. Full face coverings would be banned for anyone in those institutions, including students.

Quebec’s secularism minister, Jean-François Roberge, said the laws were designed to accelerate his push toward secularization.

“It’s shocking to see people blocking traffic, taking possession of the public space without a permit, without warning, and then turning our streets, our parks, our public squares into places of worship,” he explained.

He added that schools are “are not temples or churches or those kinds of places.”

However, it has drawn a fierce backlash from Muslim activists, who last week organized protests outside the city’s Notre-Dame Basilica.

While it is mainly Muslims who are furious about the proposals, some Christian groups are also pushing back on the grounds it fringes their rights to religious freedom.

Despite officially being a constitutional monarchy of Great Britain, Canada has no official religion.

The Canadian constitution guarantees freedom of conscience and religion, and the state is formally secular.

According to the 2021 census, Christians represent 53.3 percent of the overall population, while just under five percent identify as Muslim.

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Ben Kew
Ben Kew is a writer and editor. Originally from the UK, he moved to the U.S. to cover Congress for Breitbart News and has since gone on to editorial roles at Human Events, Townhall Media, and Americano Media. He has also written for The Epoch Times, The Western Journal, and The Spectator.

You can email Ben Kew here, and read more of Ben Kew’s articles here.

 

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