Bill 62 requires anyone giving and receiving public services to do so with their faces uncovered

Quebec has adopted a law that would effectively force Muslim women who wear a niqab or burka to uncover their faces to use public services.

The Liberal government’s Bill 62 on religious neutrality was put to a vote Wednesday morning in Quebec’s National Assembly.

The Liberals, who hold a majority in provincial parliament, voted in favour of the bill, while all the other parties voted against.

The two main opposition parties, the Parti Québécois and Coalition Avenir Québec, have argued the legislation doesn’t go far enough.

The legislation bans public workers — including doctors, teachers and daycare employees — as well as those receiving a service from the government, from covering their faces.

It was extended to municipal services, including public transit, in an amendment made in August.

Law aims to establish ‘neutrality of the state’

While the niqab and burka are not mentioned in the legislation, Quebec Justice Minister Stéphanie Vallée said earlier this week the bill aims to clearly establish the “neutrality of the state.”

The law is necessary for “communication reasons, identification reasons and security reasons,” she told CBC Montreal’s Daybreak.

The bill provides for the possibility of religious accommodation in certain cases, leading critics to question how far-reaching it will actually be.

It remains unclear how religious accommodation requests will be evaluated.

The province will work with public services, including municipalities, schools and public daycares, to establish guidelines for how it will be enforced, Vallée said. Those may not be ready until next summer.

Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre, who is in the middle of a municipal election campaign, has been an outspoken critic of the bill, accusing the provincial government of overstepping its jurisdiction and ignoring his city’s multicultural character.

On Tuesday, he said there are “serious problems” with how it would be applied.

Vallée tabled the legislation in 2015, a year after the Liberals took power.

Religion and identity became a key issue in the last election after the Parti Québécois put forward a contentious proposal for a so-called charter of values, which would have banned public servants from wearing obvious religious symbols.

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-niqab-burka-bill-62-1.4360121?cid=