François Legault government’s proposed legislation to ban public prayer is too vague and could inflict unnecessary burdens on grieving families and municipal governments, says a group advocating for Quebec municipalities. The Fédération québécoise des municipalités (FQM) says it is concerned that funeral processions and prayers said before burials could be deemed a banned religious practice under the law in its current form. Bill 9, An Act respecting the reinforcement of laicity in Québec, was tabled in the Quebec legislature on Nov. 27, 2025, by Jean-François Roberge, the minister responsible for secularism. It would, among other things, prohibit prayer in public squares, public roads and parks. The FQM wrote in a brief submitted Tuesday to the Committee on Citizen Relations, which is studying the bill, that while it recognizes the importance of state secularism, there could be certain unintended consequences of the bill, pointing to funeral processions that are still common throughout the province, “especially in rural areas, where the population is aging and the Catholic heritage remains very present.” The law allows municipalities to authorize permit applications for street prayers, but under certain conditions that, according to the federation, are not clear. “Should bereaved families really have to submit a formal request to the municipality in addition to organizing their loved one’s funeral? Should a family be required to wait for the next municipal council meeting before proceeding with a religious funeral service?” the group asked. It also criticized the government for not consulting municipalities before drafting the bill. Roberge has said in press scrums that municipalities will be able to authorize the permits on a case-by-case basis. “In practice, municipal councils will have to respond directly to the discontent of groups whose applications have been refused, exposing elected officials to unnecessary political pressure and creating a real risk of tension during public council meetings. In addition, the criteria proposed to guide decisions leave considerable room for interpretation, particularly because they must be applied on a case-by-case basis,” the FQM added. The group’s brief includes several recommendations to improve the bill, including one that calls for a list of collective religious activities exempt from the requirement to apply to municipalities, such as funeral processions on public roads and funeral commemorations held in municipal cemeteries. Last September, while the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government floated the idea of banning public prayer, the head of the Archdiocese criticized the measure, calling it an impractical and discriminatory affront to fundamental freedoms. “In a democratic society like ours, diversity of beliefs is not something to be feared; it is welcome and contributes to the richness of Quebec, with its strong culture of dialogue and encounter,” Archbishop Christian Lépine wrote in an op-ed in La Presse at the time. Concerns about face coverings The brief submitted to the committee also raised concerns about another provision of Bill 9 that would make it mandatory for municipalities and intermunicipal boards to require service providers uncover their faces. The requirement in the 2019 secularism bill made its application optional, and, according to the FQM, was rarely applied. This new requirement creates challenges for municipalities that lack the resources to ensure compliance with the law if it is passed, the group argued. “These are complex concepts that require interpretive guidelines and operational guidelines, such as model clauses, to facilitate their understanding and uniform application,” the brief states. “In many cases, these municipalities may find themselves in a situation of non-compliance, not because of a lack of will, but because of a lack of operational capacity.” The FQM has called for more clarity before the final version of the bill is adopted. “To be effective, these new measures must be clear, proportionate and adapted to municipal realities, especially in the region,” said Michaël Pilote, vice-president of the FQM and Mayor of Baie-Saint-Paul, in a news release.
