(8 Sep 2019) LEAD IN: Civil liberties groups and religious groups are protesting against Quebec's religious symbols ban.
The law, known as Bill 21, came into effect in June 2019 and bans many public employees from wearing religious clothing.
STORY-LINE:
This group of protestors, from all faiths and backgrounds, are opposing the new Bill 21 - Quebec's religious symbols ban.
The measure was introduced late last month and prohibits civil servants in positions of authority from wearing symbols of religion while at work.
This includes teachers, police officers, prosecutors and others like prison guards.
Other kinds of public workers, such as bus drivers and nurses, are allowed to wear religious symbols so long as their faces are uncovered.
Dalila Matoub is a teacher who wears the hijab and presenting her case to a school board.
"I'm a sample case of a woman, a teacher who wears the hijab and who cannot take it off," she says.
The law would apply to Sikh turbans, Christian jewellery and Jewish yarmulkes, but the focus of the controversy has been over hijabs worn by many Muslim women in Quebec.
Eve Torres has been organising several protests to oppose the newly passed law.
She argues that the law goes against equal rights.
"This is not only a question of individual rights, but it's also a question of protecting the rights of everyone in terms of having access to professions."
"Also, it's a question giving freedom to people to identify themselves the way they want to," she adds.
Deljeet Singh, a father of Sikh faith and who wears the turban, fears that his children will be discriminated against.
"My son is 10 years old right now, and he really wants to be (in the) police. But with this law, he can't do that. I want my daughter to be a teacher and go in all those professions. But this (law) is stopping them to do that. They won't feel the same as the other kids.''
Nour Farhat, a 27-year old lawyer spent seven years studying law and hoped to become a prosecutor.
Soon after she graduated, Bill 21 was voted in at the Quebec National assembly.
"I'm very upset and sad. I feel that I've worked for nothing," she explains.
"Now I have returned school, pursuing another masters, so I can find work that meets my ambitions. However, my dream has always been to become a prosecutor and represent the government."
Farhat cannot exercise her profession outside Quebec, because the law is different from province to province.
And if she were to take off her veil? "I will have given the (Quebec) government a reason that what they are doing is right, just and normal."
"The government is endorsing discrimination against religious minorities, and I don't want to be used as an instrument that contributes to this discrimination against religious minorities."
Bill 21 is Quebec's fourth legislative attempt since 2011 to regulate the wearing of religious symbols for people working in the public sphere.
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