Legal Research

Quebec and the Kirpan

By Simon Fodden

As readers may recall, a few weeks ago a delegation of Sikhs, invited to the Quebec National Assembly to make a presentation to a committee, was turned away by security when they declined to surrender their kirpans. Subsequently the Parti Québécois tabled a motion yesterday respecting kirpans, and today Quebec’s Liberal government has said it will support that motion.

The motion put forward by the PQ is rather more narrow than has been reported in the press, which speaks simply of “a ban”; it reads as follows:

Que l?Assemblée nationale appuie sans réserve la décision prise par sa Direction de la sécurité à l?effet d?interdire le port du kirpan lors des consultations portant sur le projet de loi n°94, Loi établissant les balises encadrant les demandes d?accommodement dans l?Administration gouvernementale et dans certains établissements, appliquant ainsi le principe de neutralité de l’État.

[Google Translate: That the National Assembly fully supports the decision by its Directorate of Security to prohibit the wearing of the kirpan in consultations on Bill 94, An Act establishing the guidelines governing requests for accommodation in the Administration and in some institutions, thus applying the principle of state neutrality.

I don’t know that such a motion, if carried, would proceed any further and become “a law.” If so, it might have to wait a while, given that Quebec’s 1,500 government lawyers have just gone on strike, among whose number are those who work in the National Assembly and help to draft legislation.

Full post as published by Slaw.ca on February 09, 2011 (boomark / email).