Quebec bans Muslim mothers from volunteering in schools while wearing the hijab. headscarf
Quebec's secularism legislation extends beyond teaching staff and workers and now also affects parents who take part in school activities.
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Quebec has taken another step in its secularisation policy and has begun to apply the ban on religious symbols in schools without exception, including those of parent volunteers. According to information published by Global News, Schools are already preventing volunteer mothers wearing headscarves from accessing the premises.
This measure is part of a policy line that Quebec has been applying for years in the name of secularism. In 2019, The government passed a law banning teachers from wearing religious symbols while at work.. Subsequently, Last year, this restriction was extended to all staff in educational institutions. with the so-called «Law 94». Now it's the turn of the parent volunteers who carry out tasks such as accompanying school trips, helping in the library, supporting reading activities or assisting with parties and workshops within the school.
Workers prefer to resign rather than take it off. headscarf
The Quebec government's course is clear: to minimise the visible presence of religious symbols within public schools. The new regulatory framework approved in October 2025 under Bill 94 extended the ban to students and all school staff. According to data collected by CBC News, School workers such as canteen monitors, after-school activity supervisors, cooks or caretakers have preferred not to work rather than remove their religious symbol.. Some have chosen to resign and others have been dismissed for refusing to comply with the law.
Nevertheless, the government maintains its stance and argues that the state school must function as a completely neutral space, where any visible religious expression is excluded from the educational sphere. The Minister of Education and driving force behind the law, Bernard Drainville, sums it up forcefully: “They decided not to obey the law and, therefore, it is their decision. They must accept the consequences of their own personal choice.”. A position that demonstrates the government's willingness to take secularism to its logical conclusion.
Tenured professors; the rest, not.
Quebec has implemented its secularism policy with a gradual and very well-defined strategy. With the approval of Bill 21 in 2019, The government introduced an acquired rights clause to avoid an immediate upheaval in the education system.The teachers who were already working at that time were able to keep their posts even if they wore religious symbols. In contrast, all new teachers must comply with the rule from day one if they want to work in the state school.
However, this exception does not imply full freedom. Teachers with vested rights may continue to teach, but their mobility within the system is limited: They cannot change school or access promotions if they do not renounce religious symbols.. The model, therefore, allows the continuation of existing cases but prevents this situation from being perpetuated or extended over time.
With Law 94, the government has removed any margin for exception for the rest of the school staff and for volunteers. Monitors, canteen staff, caretakers or parents who help out at the schools must comply fully with the regulation without any transitional protection.
A new, stricter law is on its way…
Far from slowing down, the Quebec government continues to press ahead with strengthening its model of secularism through new measures and legislative proposals. In recent months it has already taken further steps, such as the ban on the use of religious symbols in institutional advertising —after the controversy over an image of a girl with headscarf in a library in Montreal— and the removal of prayer rooms in public buildings, including educational institutions and universities.
Now, the government wants to extend the restrictions under Law 9 to prohibit the headscarf, other religious symbols and food halal public nurseries and subsidised educational centres. For the moment, these sectors have been left out of the bans, but for the Minister of Secularism, Jean-François Roberge, The expansion is necessary to maintain consistency..
Threat of a Muslim exodus from Quebec
The tightening of the legal framework on secularism is already provoking reactions among a section of the Muslim population. Several witnesses interviewed by the media are considering leaving Quebec, either to return to their country of origin or to move to other provinces of Canada. They argue that the new laws, especially those that limit the use of headscarf in key areas, They have created a climate that they perceive as less favourable to religious visibility..
This discontent has also been documented by other Canadian media. Reports in The Walrus cite cases of women who have given up careers in the public sector in the face of the impossibility of working with headscarf, Meanwhile, reports from CityNews Montreal indicate that a significant proportion of Muslim women have considered leaving Quebec for work-related reasons. All of this reinforces the idea that the legislation is not merely symbolic but has a real impact on career paths and life decisions.
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