Women's Group Demands Ban on Religious Symbols at Work

September 28, 2007

Author: Katherine Wilton

Source: The Windsor Star/CanWest News Service

http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/news/story.html?id=0fe04769-23c3-49f7-bd0a-b1308528fa27

The Quebec government should ban civil servants from wearing visible religious symbols at work to promote the province's status as a secular society, the Quebec Council on the Status of Women says.

That means female Muslim teachers should not be allowed to wear a hijab in public schools, said the council's president, Christiane Pelchat.

"Teachers are role models and they should be promoting equality between men and women," Pelchat said. "Because you prevent someone from wearing a hijab, it doesn't mean you are preventing them from believing."

Other civil servants should also be prevented from coming to work wearing religious symbols, she said.

Pelchat will present the council's recommendations to Quebec's roving commission on "reasonable accommodation" of immigrants and religious minorities before the hearings wrap up Nov. 30.