Overview
- Challengers including the English Montreal School Board, the National Council of Canadian Muslims with the CCLA, and the World Sikh Organization urged the court to strike the 2019 law that bars many public-sector workers from wearing religious symbols.
- The central legal fight targets Quebec’s pre-emptive use of Section 33, which lower courts said shielded Bill 21 from Charter claims even as they criticized the breadth of the override under the Supreme Court’s 1988 Ford precedent.
- A seven-judge panel is hearing the case after Justice Mahmud Jamal recused in 2024 and Chief Justice Richard Wagner left Justice Mary Moreau off the panel to avoid a tie.
- Federal and provincial interveners are split on the scope of Section 33, with Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan backing Quebec’s position and Manitoba, British Columbia and Ottawa urging clearer limits.
- The hearings run four days with Quebec presenting Tuesday and dozens of interveners Wednesday, in a sprawling proceeding involving 142 lawyers and 61 parties that could affect newer Quebec measures such as Bill 94.