New guidelines not enough to fix Quebec’s face-covering ban, lawyer says
By Jonathan Montpetit
CBC News | May 12, 2018
Quebec’s new guidelines on religious accommodation have failed to ease concerns about whether Muslim women will be able to access public services — such as riding a bus — if they wear a niqab or burka.
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The National Council of Canadian Muslims and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association also denounced the new guidelines, saying in a joint statement they would do nothing to “fix a law that is, at its core, discriminatory and unconstitutional.”
“Requiring Muslim women who wear the niqab to make an application for exemption every time they wish to access basic public services such as health care and transit places a further undue burden on them,” said Khalid Elgazzar, the vice-chair of the council.
“In our view, these guidelines only reinforce the convoluted and flawed nature of Bill 62.”