CANADA
The Government of the Canadian Province of Manitoba is planning to attract Public Servants from Quebec who object to that Province’s ban on wearing religious symbols at work.
Premier of Manitoba, Brian Pallister said he had ordered that letters be sent to Quebec professional organisations, universities and other entities to invite public sector workers to move west.
“We have a shortage of multilingual workers and we think there may be people in Quebec right now who want to come to a Province where we don’t have clothing police, where their freedoms will be respected and their rights will be respected,” Mr Pallister said.
The Quebec ban on religious symbols in the workplace applies only to some people in the Public Service in positions of authority, including judges, police officers, court clerks and public schoolteachers.
A spokesperson for Mr Pallister’s office said the Manitoba recruitment effort would target a range of public workers in areas such as education, health care, social services and agriculture.
Critics have condemned the law for unfairly targeting Muslims, Sikhs and other religious minorities.
Premier of Quebec, Francois Legault said the law helped ensure secularism in the workplace and was supported by a majority of Quebecers.
Mr Pallister raised his opposition to the law at a meeting of Canada’s Premiers in Saskatoon in July, although it was not part of the formal agenda and was not included in the communiqué issued by the Premiers after the meeting.
“I’m not trying to hide the fact that I disagree with [the Quebec legislation] and I’m not going to try to hide the fact that we’re going to use the threat of it to serve the needs of the people of Manitoba, and to give opportunity to people who feel at all concerned about that particular Bill,” Mr Pallister said.
The Quebec law was a campaign promise by Mr Legault and took effect in June.
It is being challenged in court by a national Muslim organisation and a civil liberties group.
Winnipeg, 20 July 2019
