Bill 9 tightens rules around religious symbols, prayer, accommodations and institutional practices
Quebec has officially expanded its secularism law, in adopting Bill 9, An Act respecting the reinforcement of laicity in Quebec, a sweeping law that tightens rules around religious symbols, prayer, accommodations and institutional practices across childcare, education, health care and other publicly funded sectors.
Bill 9 primarily amends the Act respecting the laicity of the state and enacts a new Act to foster religious neutrality, in particular in the public space. The revised preamble states that “state laicity constitutes a foundation of national integration” and that the framework “gives full effect to every person’s freedom of conscience and freedom of religion.”
The law also clarifies that laicity is a standard of conduct for staff. A new section provides that state laicity “requires every personnel member of a body to act, in the exercise of their functions, so as not to treat a person favourably or unfavourably because of the person’s religious affiliation or non-affiliation… or because of the religious convictions or beliefs of a person in authority or the absence of such religious convictions or beliefs.”
The Quebec government tabled the legislation to further tighten secularism rules back in November 2025.
Expanded religious symbol bans, including childcare
Bill 9 significantly widens the scope of the existing prohibition on religious symbols under the Act respecting the laicity of the State.
Schedule II is amended to include:
- personnel members of a body referred to in paragraph 12 of Schedule I who, for the purposes of their employment, are in a place, such as an immovable or a room, under the authority of the body or are in the presence of a student
- persons when they are providing a service under a reception, francization or integration program developed in accordance with section 60 of the Québec Immigration Act
- personnel members of a childcare centre, home educational childcare coordinating office or subsidized daycare centre.
New acquired‑rights clauses in section 31 exempt certain people from the ban, including some contracted providers whose agreements pre‑date assent.
According to CBC News, this will extend the province’s religious symbol ban to subsidised daycare workers, while grandfathering those already employed in those roles. The League for Rights and Freedoms (Ligue des droits et libertés, LDL), a civil liberties group, has warned the new rules will have “disastrous consequences” for many Quebecers. “It is as if we are telling today’s Quebec society that it is legitimate for a government, in the name of its majority, to openly flout the rights of certain minorities,” said Paul‑Étienne Rainville, the LDL’s political affairs officer, according to the CBC.
Face‑covering rules for service users
Bill 9 also expands requirements to have one’s face uncovered when accessing services.
The amended section 8 of the Act respecting the laicity of the State now provides that “persons must have their face uncovered when they are in a place, such as an immovable or a room, under the authority of a body referred to in any of paragraphs 7, 11 and 12.1 of Schedule I… and when they are receiving a service from such a body.”
The same provision states that persons must have their face uncovered when receiving “an educational, training or professional development service” or any other service where this is needed to verify identity or for security reasons. The law is explicit that “No person who fails to comply with the obligation set out in the second or third paragraph may receive the service they request.”
Quebec’s publicly funded daycares and daycare workers’ unions have previously said that the provincial government’s proposed expansion of its secularism law, Bill 9, would deepen staffing shortages, increase costs and undermine relationships with families, according to a previous report.
Several organisations already felt that impact by early 2026, according to a previous report.
LDL condemns Bill 9 and flags UN concerns
In a separate statement, the LDL said it “strongly deplores the adoption of Bill 9 (PL9), the Act to strengthen secularism in Quebec.” The organisation describes Bill 9 as the third “repressive and discriminatory” law adopted “under the pretext of strengthening secularism in Quebec” since 2019, arguing that it actually “distances Quebec from a true secular state — that is, a mode of social organization that promotes the full respect rights and freedoms.”
The LDL notes that, for the third time since 2019, the National Assembly has proceeded “despite the substantiated and well-founded opposition of numerous organizations and institutions” and says this “demonstrates the legislature’s failure to heed the diverse opinions expressed during the public consultations.”
The group also points to recent criticism from the United Nations Human Rights Committee. On 23 March, the Committee expressed concern that the 2019 Laicity of the State Act “perpetuates discrimination by disproportionately targeting religious minorities, particularly Muslim women who wear the hijab,” and voiced concern that Bill 9 “would intensify the discriminatory effects associated with Bill 21.” It recommended that the government review “all relevant laws and practices, including Bills 21, 94, and 9, with a view to removing any restrictions that exceed the strict limits permitted under Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.”
