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. »

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