“Would they allow Quebec cities to meddle in their jurisdictions?” asked Bruno Marchand. “I do not think so.”
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QUEBEC – The mayor of Quebec City has criticized other Canadian cities, including Quebec’s sister city Calgary, for wanting to fund legal challenges against the province’s state law on secularism, Bill 21.
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“We are definitely not embarking on this Canadian city movement started by the city of Brampton in Ontario,” Bruno Marchand said this week, responding to a question from a citizen, Robert Lavoie, at a city council meeting.
“It is out of the question that we get involved. It is a provincial law. People may agree (with the law) or not, but it is out of the question that Quebec City supports causes or groups to challenge the laws in Quebec. “
Marchand is the latest Quebec mayor to oppose a movement of mayors from several cities, including Calgary, Winnipeg, Brampton and Toronto, which have announced their opposition to Bill 21. Some have also announced their intention to use money from the taxes to finance legal challenges to Bill 21, which was adopted by the National Assembly in June 2019.
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While the bill has been law for two years, ROC mayors have been reacting to an incident in early December in which an elementary school teacher in Chelsea, Que. , was reassigned to another job because she was wearing a hijab. Bill 21 prohibits religious symbols for certain public servants in positions of authority.
Other Quebec mayors have also responded to the movement .
“We are not comfortable with the fact that other Canadian cities want to fund groups to oppose a law that is the responsibility of the Quebec government,” Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante said on December 15.
“The City of Longueuil will never support these challenges,” said Mayor Catherine Fournier.
But Marchand, who is a politician for the first time after winning the November election, went further in his comments. He wondered aloud how mayors in other Canadian cities would feel if Quebec City started supporting legal challenges in its provinces to defend the rights of Francophone minorities.
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“Would you allow Quebec cities to meddle in their jurisdictions or in the way they work (with) minorities in their community, including the Quebec minority or the Francophone minority?” Marchand asked. “I don’t think so. It goes without saying anything.
“I invite (mayors of other Canadian cities) to take a look in their own backyards before discussing the situation of others.”
Marchand did not disclose his personal opinion on Bill 21.
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Opinion: mayors’ anti-Bill 21 initiative is already failing
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Editorial: Bill 21 Undermines Quebec’s Efforts to Be Inclusive
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Lise Ravary: Despising secularism is Canada’s new national sport
Reference-montrealgazette.com