The Commission questioned the decision to resort to a law of general application within the Administration in order to stipulate that obligations flowing from the right to equality recognized by the Charter apply to it, as this has already been the case since the Charter came into force.
The Commission was concerned with the negative socio-political impact that this bill might have on some women. While recognizing that the wearing of the full-face veil is an extremely rare phenomenon in Québec, the Commission feared that this bill would exacerbate the exclusion and stigmatization of women who wear the veil and who are already vulnerable.
One section of the bill provided that accommodation must be denied where reasons of security, communication or identification warrant it. However, the Commission questioned the reasons behind adding the ground of security as one of the elements of undue hardship. The Commission was of the opinion that this wording stigmatized Muslim women who cover their faces, as if associating them with a potential security threat, which, in turn, could trigger racial profiling.
Moreover, the Commission particularly wished to express its unease with a bill that indirectly targetted, in a specific provision establishing guidelines with respect to accommodation, a particular group of persons who cover their faces for religious reasons, namely Muslim women wearing the niqab. The negative socio-political impact that this bill could have on these women was a cause for concern.
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