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Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon and current Education Minister Joel Arseneau, right, at the legislature in Quebec City in April, 2023.Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press
Quebec’s new education minister wants to ban schoolchildren from wearing religious symbols.
Joël Arseneau told journalists on Wednesday that the plans for the ban are non-negotiable.
During the election campaign that resulted in a Parti Québécois minority government, the party promised to broaden provincial secularism laws.
It is unclear when the PQ government intends to table a bill to this effect.
The Quebec legislature is scheduled to resume sitting on Nov. 17.
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The Quebec government has been strongly criticized for its law banning employees of the public sector, including teachers, from wearing religious symbols.
A legal challenge of that law has made it to the Supreme Court of Canada, with lawyers claiming it raises serious concerns involving several Charter rights.
Those legal proceedings are ongoing.
An association representing Muslims in Quebec said it would respond to Arseneau’s comments at a news conference Thursday afternoon.