Hundreds of people losing jobs ‘at a time when we have absolutely no one to replace them,' says expert
Dozens of Montreal‑area school employees have been fired, suspended, placed on unpaid leave or have resigned as Quebec’s expanded ban on religious symbols in schools takes hold, with hundreds more jobs potentially at risk, according to a report.
The law, known as Bill 94 – adopted on Oct. 30, 2025 – extends the province’s prohibition on religious symbols beyond teachers and principals to everyone who interacts with students. That includes daycare educators, school monitors and other support staff whose duties bring them into contact with children.
The Montreal Association of School Principals says full enforcement of the law could result in “hundreds of people” losing their positions in the greater Montreal region “at a time when we have absolutely no one to replace them,” association president Kathleen Legault said, according to a CBC article.
Quebec’s secularism framework is moving deeper into the public sector workplace, and organizations are warning that the talent tap is tightening just as staffing crises worsen in sectors such as education and childcare, according to a previous report.
In Quebec City, former education minister Bernard Drainville — who sponsored Bill 94 and is now a senior figure in the Coalition Avenir Québec — defended the legislation and its consequences. He said affected employees could have complied by removing religious symbols during working hours.
“They decided not to respect the law and therefore, it’s their decision. And unfortunately, they have to bear the consequences of their own personal choice,” Drainville said, according to CBC.
Retroactive rules remove earlier protections
Quebec had previously granted exemptions for employees already working in school service centres, but those protections ended retroactively when Bill 94 was tabled on March 19, 2025. Employees who changed roles after that date, or who were hired between March 19 and Oct. 30, 2025, are no longer covered by the initial grandfathering provisions.
School service centres in the Montreal region told Radio‑Canada they have adjusted recruitment practices for employees hired after the law came into force last autumn. The largest centres say they are still waiting for further direction from the provincial government before applying the law in full, but at least two have already begun enforcing it.
At the CSS des Mille‑Îles, eight people have reportedly been dismissed and four have resigned after refusing to remove religious symbols. At the CSS de Laval, about 40 employees are currently on authorised unpaid leave and five have resigned, CBC reports. Around 20 of those are workers who were employed before 19 March 2025 but later changed positions, placing them outside the exemption window.
In a statement cited by CBC, the CSS de Laval said: “We do not wish to lay off our employees; it is truly a last resort. We must first evaluate other options for these individuals, and we have various processes to follow.”
