Manitoba details argument against Quebec’s secular law

Advertisement

Advertise with us

Manitoba has submitted its legal arguments against the Quebec law that bans public servants from wearing religious symbols on the job as the case is set to be heard by the Supreme Court of Canada.

Read this article for free:


or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Subscribe and receive a limited-edition Free Press branded hat or tote.

Digital Subscription

One year of digital access for only $205*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles
Start now

*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/09/2025 (366 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba has submitted its legal arguments against the Quebec law that bans public servants from wearing religious symbols on the job as the case is set to be heard by the Supreme Court of Canada.

“Manitoba has intervened in that case at the Supreme Court to protect our province’s interests,” Premier Wab Kinew said at an unrelated news conference at a Sikh temple on Thursday.

The law “would prevent a Sikh person from wearing a turban, that would prevent a Christian from wearing a cross or a crucifix… a Muslim wearing a hijab, a Hutterite person wearing a head covering, and on and on down the list.” Kinew said.

Ruth Bonneville / Free Press
                                Premier Wab Kinew: “Manitoba has intervened in that case at the Supreme Court to protect our province’s interests.”

Ruth Bonneville / Free Press

Premier Wab Kinew: “Manitoba has intervened in that case at the Supreme Court to protect our province’s interests.”

Manitoba is one of five provinces among close to nearly three dozen interveners in the legal challenge of the law, called Bill 21, brought by several groups that oppose it. A date for a hearing before the high court has not been set.

When Quebec passed its legislation in 2019, it invoked the notwithstanding clause of the Charter that can be used by provinces to shield laws from constitutional challenges.

Kinew said although the notwithstanding clause was used, courts across Canada should still be able to review a law such as Quebec’s secular legislation.

“A court should still be allowed to decide whether a government should be able to ban a Sikh person from wearing a turban or whether a government should be allowed to ban a Christian wearing a cross or a crucifix,” Kinew said.

“While that court might not be able to strike down the law, the court should still make the ruling so that the people at the next election can decide what they think of the government that did that,” he said.

Manitoba’s 39-page argument, filed by lawyers for the attorney general, says the Charter of Rights and Freedoms “should be interpreted in a manner that best promotes the role and responsibility of all branches of government to secure the rights and freedoms of persons in Canada.”

The federal government is also an intervener. It wants the court to set limits on how the notwithstanding clause can be invoked.

It contends the repeated use of the clause amounts to “indirectly amending the Constitution,” and that courts should be able to rule on whether it may result in the “irreparable impairment” of Canadians’ rights.

— with files from Joyanne Pursaga and The Canadian Press

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

The Free Press is committed to covering faith in Manitoba through our Religion in the News project. This reporting continues because readers like you step forward to fund it.

Donate now to support our reporting on religion.

Your donation is eligible for a charitable tax receipt. BECOME A FAITH JOURNALISM SUPPORTER

Carol Sanders

Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter

Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol.

Every piece of reporting Carol produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.

 

Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.

Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.

Report Error Submit a Tip

The Free Press acknowledges the financial support it receives from members of the city’s faith community, which makes our coverage of religion possible.

More Stories

‘A new future’: city dentist Cholakis donates $2M to school of dental hygiene

Melissa Martin 3 minute read Preview

‘A new future’: city dentist Cholakis donates $2M to school of dental hygiene

Melissa Martin 3 minute read Updated: 5:04 PM CDT

Dental hygienist training in Manitoba is getting a big boost, after a major gift from a local dentist.

On Thursday, the dental hygiene school at the University of Manitoba’s Dr. Gerald Niznick College of Dentistry unveiled a new $2-million donation from Dr. Ernest Cholakis. It’s the largest gift the program has ever received, and in honour of the funding, the school will be named the Cholakis School of Dental Hygiene.

The gift was unveiled at a ceremony Thursday morning at the Brodie Centre at the U of M's Bannatyne campus. The benefactor and other dignitaries, including Premier Wab Kinew, were in attendance, as well as the three-year program’s current students.

Cholakis, who graduated from the U of M’s dentistry school in 1982, had high praise for the dental hygiene profession.

Read
Updated: 5:04 PM CDT

Kinew delivered what most of us wanted; now we’ll have to deal with the consequences

Dan Lett 5 minute read Preview

Kinew delivered what most of us wanted; now we’ll have to deal with the consequences

Dan Lett 5 minute read Updated: 8:43 AM CDT

Premier Wab Kinew has decided to adopt permanent daylight savings time, which means a permanent end to the spring forward, fall back tradition of adjusting our clocks. And absolutely no one is surprised.

Read
Updated: 8:43 AM CDT

American Hostage stars recall warmth of Winnipeggers during brutal winter

Randall King 7 minute read Preview

American Hostage stars recall warmth of Winnipeggers during brutal winter

Randall King 7 minute read 6:13 PM CDT

TORONTO — When you stream the eight-part series American Hostage, a sense of familiarity may strike.

That’s because the show was shot in Winnipeg — especially in the Exchange District — from November of last year to the beginning of February, with Winnipeg portraying Indianapolis circa 1977.

The whole world seemed to be watching that midwest American city that year as a hostage crisis unfolded involving one Tony Kiritsis, an angry man who goes ballistic when a mortgage brokerage was poised to foreclose on property he had dreamed of developing into a shopping centre.

Kiritsis kidnapped his mortgage broker, Richard Hall, wiring a shotgun to the back of his head, and demanded a public airing of his grievances, with the reluctant help of popular radio broadcaster Fred Heckman.

Read
6:13 PM CDT

Around the NSL: Keilty-Dilling’s hot hands; Rise rumble standings; Tides in must-win territory

Grace Anne Paizen 5 minute read Preview

Around the NSL: Keilty-Dilling’s hot hands; Rise rumble standings; Tides in must-win territory

Grace Anne Paizen 5 minute read 9:13 PM CDT

Let’s start off this week’s edition with the Week 21 matchup between the Montreal Roses and AFC Toronto that had already taken place before last week’s column was written.

It was, arguably, the heavyweight matchup of that week, with the Roses attempting to place a three-game buffer between itself and the surging Mighty Maroons while Toronto was trying to gain some breathing room between itself and the Ottawa Rapid.

Instead? A 2-2 draw thwarted any progress from either team.

Making way for the Rapid to leapfrog back into second place over Toronto… right? Well, buckle up for the riveting answer to that question and the jostling for fourth place in this column’s latest edition.

Read
9:13 PM CDT

Gillingham in lead with decided voters

Nicole Buffie 6 minute read Preview

Gillingham in lead with decided voters

Nicole Buffie 6 minute read 6:55 PM CDT

A cloud of uncertainty is hanging over Winnipeg as October’s municipal election nears.

Three months after a poll showed more than 40 per cent of Winnipeggers wanted to see someone other than current mayor Scott Gillingham elected, a new Abacus Data poll indicates more than half of Winnipeg voters are undecided heading into next month’s civic election.

Of decided voters, 55 per cent favour Gillingham compared to 23 per cent for former councillor and provincial cabinet minister Kevin Klein and 11 per cent for funeral director Mike Vogiatzakis.

Of all respondents, just over 50 per cent said they were unsure while 13 per cent said they will not vote.

Read
6:55 PM CDT

Manitoba details argument against Quebec’s secular law

Carol Sanders 3 minute read Preview

Manitoba details argument against Quebec’s secular law

Carol Sanders 3 minute read Thursday, Sep. 18, 2025

Manitoba has submitted its legal arguments against the Quebec law that bans public servants from wearing religious symbols on the job as the case is set to be heard by the Supreme Court of Canada.

Read
Thursday, Sep. 18, 2025