'We’re asking them to choose between their job and their religion'
Montreal’s largest school service centre, the Centre de services scolaire de Montréal (CSSDM) has parted ways with roughly 150 support staff who refused to remove religious symbols under the province’s new law, Bill 94.
The measure expands Quebec’s ban on religious symbols from teachers and principals to nearly everyone who interacts with students, including lunchroom monitors and special education technicians.
Bill 94, adopted in October 2025, builds on 2019’s Bill 21 by pushing the religious symbol ban deeper into the school system. Anyone hired or moved into a new position after the bill was tabled in March 2025 is generally not covered by the law’s limited grandfathering clause and can be required to comply or leave.
Quebec’s government has framed the issue in terms of individual responsibility. Bernard Drainville, who in February introduced Bill 94, stressed that affected employees had options, “and unfortunately, they have to bear the consequences of their own personal choice.”
A spokesperson for the Education Ministry echoed this, stating that “like any law, it must be respected.”
Bill 94 moves further into school system
That has left some long‑serving workers suddenly facing an ultimatum when they change roles, according to a CBC report. For Annie Charland, president of the school support section of the FEESP‑CSN, the choice presented to these employees is not a real one.
“I call that a false choice when they tell people 'You have to choose: either work or take off your hijab,’” she said.
“It’s their integrity that’s being undermined. I find it hard to tell people that — we’re asking them to choose between their job and their religion.”
Michel Picard, head of the APPA CSN, and other union representatives say the terminations and resignations are landing in a system that was already short of support staff. CBC reports that the Quebec Education Ministry’s own figures show more than 1,000 unfilled support roles across the province, representing about three per cent of positions.
