The new Quebec government is determined to ban the hijab at primary school
The new independence-supporting government wants to ban girls aged 6 to 12 from wearing the Muslim headscarf to school.
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The new government of Quebec, in Canada, is determined to ban primary school girls from wearing the Islamic veil. The measure is part of the promises in the Parti Québécois's election programme, which advocates strengthening secularism. The first measure will be to prevent the presence of visible religious symbols among primary school pupils, including the hijab. The Minister of Education, Joël Arseneau, has confirmed that the government will press ahead with the ban: “It is non-negotiable”, he stated on 28 October, as reported by the Journal de Québec.
Campaign pledge: to ban the Islamic veil
During the September 2026 election campaign, the party committed to withdraw public funding from religious schools, prohibit agreements between educational institutions and places of worship, and investigate the influence of religious organisations in schools. Its leader and now president of Quebec, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, justified these proposals by citing the need to protect pupils' freedom of conscience and prevent children from being subjected to religious pressure. The programme also provided for maintaining the restrictions of the secularism laws approved by previous governments.
The defence of secularism enjoys broad parliamentary support in Quebec. When it was in opposition, the Parti Québécois had already voted in favour of the main laws introduced by the previous government, the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ), a centre-right unionist party. In 2019 it supported Law 21, which banned religious symbols such as the hijab for teachers. In 2025 it also voted in favour of Law 94, which extended the restrictions to all school staff and prohibited Muslim mothers from volunteering in schools with the hijab. This law also required students to have their faces uncovered, so that the girls could continue wearing the hijab.
In April 2026, the Parti Québécois also supported the law that banned prayers in the street and the one that banned the Muslim headscarf for female staff in state-funded nurseries. These measures had labour consequences: Around 150 female staff at Montreal schools lost their jobs for refusing to show their hair.. All the laws were passed with the support of both parties., while the Liberals and Québec Solidaire opposed it. The new government now wants to go a step further and extend the ban on Muslim dress to primary school pupils.
The warning from headteachers
The new government's decision has provoked the criticisms from Quebec's main school headteachers' associations. They consider that religious symbols do not pose a problem in educational institutions. They have even pointed out that Some girls might stop going to school if they are banned from wearing the Islamic veil.. They also say that the measure could harm relations between schools and families, according to what was published by the Journal of Montreal.
As was to be expected, Muslim organisations have also complained.. The National Council of Canadian Muslims has rejected the ban because It is considered to violate the students' freedom of religion.. Furthermore, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) has denounced that the government intends to solve a problem it has not demonstrated exists and believes that Students must be able to attend class regardless of their religious dress..
The ban has not yet been approved, but the government remains committed to pushing it through.
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