Religious symbols ban: Quebec passes law to prevent students, staff from covering their faces

Samira Laouni takes part in a demonstration following a Superior Court ruling on Bill 21, Quebec's secularism law, in Montreal on Tuesday, April 20, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson

The Quebec government has passed a law extending the province’s ban on religious symbols to everyone who interacts with students in schools.

The law also prohibits students from wearing face coverings in a bid to strengthen secularism in schools.

The new legislation expands on a secularism law from 2019 that banned religious symbols for public employees deemed to be in positions of authority, including teachers, judges and police officers.

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The new legislation extends that ban to all school staff, including psychologists, janitors and cafeteria workers, as well as to people who offer services to students but who are not employees, such as library volunteers.

The bill was tabled following a government investigation of a Montreal elementary school last year, which found that a group of teachers, many of North African descent, had imposed autocratic rule at the school.

The government has also promised to extend the religious symbols ban to daycare workers.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 30, 2025.