November 24,2025
RED FM News Desk
The Quebec government is preparing to introduce a series of new measures that would broaden its secularism rules across public institutions. These measures include banning prayer rooms in universities and CEGEPs and limiting the availability of meals based on religious requirements.
Radio-Canada has confirmed the details of the new bill—set to be tabled Thursday—after initial reports from TVA and Le Journal de Montréal.
Under the proposal, public institutions would no longer be allowed to use religious symbols in their communications. The bill would also prohibit institutions from offering diets exclusively tied to religious traditions and would extend the requirement for individuals to keep their faces uncovered throughout the public and subsidized daycare network.
Additionally, the government aims to ban religious practices in all public institutions, including prayer rooms in post-secondary schools, with certain exceptions for residential facilities. Public prayer would also be barred, except in specific circumstances.
Bill 21, passed in 2019, already enforces state secularism by prohibiting certain public employees—such as teachers, police officers, judges, and others in positions of authority—from wearing religious symbols at work. This includes items like hijabs, kippahs, turbans, and crosses. It also forbids face coverings that conceal identity, except for medical reasons.
In October, Quebec adopted Bill 94, expanding the ban on religious symbols to anyone interacting with students in schools, and also prohibiting students from wearing face coverings.
The new bill, expected Thursday, would further extend restrictions by banning staff members at public and subsidized daycare centres from wearing religious symbols, with limited exemptions.
These changes come after a committee in August recommended 50 updates aimed at strengthening secularism across the province.
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