Legault: Wearing religious symbols is like wearing a Liberal Party t-shirt

In a press conference at Sun Youth in Montreal this afternoon, Quebec Premier François Legault answered a series of questions related to the removal of a teacher from her classroom in the town of Chelsea last week. The teacher in question, Fatemeh Anvari, had been wearing a hijab, which goes against the CAQ’s Bill 21, the secularism law that has been in place since June 2019, before Anvari began working at the school. Last week Legault said that the Western Quebec School Board should never have hired Anvari in the first place. Today, Legault likened a teacher wearing religious symbols at work to a teacher wearing a t-shirt that says “I support the Liberal party.”

Legault attempted to minimize the firing by saying that it’s simply the job of institutions to obey the law. He also called Bill 21 more “reasonable” than the equivalent secularism law in France, and praised Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for suggesting in a statement last week that this is an issue that should be debated amongst Quebecers. Today, however, Trudeau reiterated that he “deeply disagrees” with Bill 21, and that his government is still willing to intervene to contest the law.

Le premier ministre répond aux questions des journalistes.

????Suivez notre mêlée de presse en direct????
https://t.co/NB6H3C46oi

— François Legault (@francoislegault) December 13, 2021

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