'Non à la loi 21' campaign launched against Quebec's religious symbols ban

Even though Quebec's ban on religious symbols has become law, opponents say they won't give up the fight. 

Members of the province's Muslim, Jewish and Sikh communities announced Thursday a new campaign aimed at showing public disapproval with the law.

The group is aiming to distribute 50,000 buttons by the end of September with a simple message: "non à la loi 21."

"It's a campaign to show that the resistance to Law 21 continues even though the law has passed," Ehab Lotayef, the campaign's co-ordinator, said at a news conference held at a church in downtown Montreal.

The secularism law, passed in June by the Coalition Avenir Québec government, prohibits public employees in positions of authority, including teachers, from wearing religious symbols such as a kippa, turban or hijab.

Premier François Legault has argued the law is needed to ensure the secularism of the state and put an end to the debate over the accommodation of minorities.

Beyond the Montreal 'cocoon'

Lotayef is convinced the campaign will help sway those in favour of the ban, a stance he attributed to a lack of understanding.

He said he wants to spread the message outside of the "cocoon" of Montreal, to areas in the province where there is stronger support for the law.

He also said he wants to see federal parties take a stronger position against the ban ahead of the election.

"They are afraid that it will cost them votes in Quebec. They are afraid that it is not their interests," he said.

Frank Baylis, the Liberal MP for the Montreal riding of Pierrefonds-Dollard, was at Thursday's news conference to show his support for the campaign. He is not, however, running for re-election. 

The campaign is meant to work in parallel with a legal challenge still before the courts. 

The National Council of Canadian Muslims and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association filed a lawsuit hours after the law was passed.

A request for an injunction was denied but the case hasn't yet been heard on its merits.

Rabbi Michael Whitman, another member of the campaign and a lecturer at McGill University's faculty of law, said the consequences of the law extend far beyond those directly impacted by it. 

"What this law has done is it has given licence to incivility. It has given permission to look down upon and cast aspersions on others who dress differently and who look differently," he said.