Late last month in November 2025, the provincial government in Quebec presented a new bill that – like its past ‘secularism’ laws – is squarely targeted against Islam and the Muslim community.

This legislation, called Bill-9, seeks to ban prayers in public; ban prayers in private (such as in a multi-faith room) hosted by public institutions such as schools, hospitals; ban students and staff at all levels of the public education system (i.e., from day care to post-graduate universities) from covering their faces for religious reasons; and forbid public institutions from offering meals “based on a religious precept or tradition” (i.e., halal, kosher) food.

While wrapped in the flag of ‘secularism’ and ‘applying to all’, the reality of Bill-9 is evident – it aims to eliminate the practice of Islam in Quebec, at every level. For the Quebec government, even those who practice Islam as individuals or as a personal creed are a problem that needs to be erased from the fabric of society. Bill-9 basically builds upon a series of previous legislations targeting the Muslim community with the aim of both erasing their deen on one end, while directing anger from the wider public against Muslims, as they (as with all populations in the West) suffer from growing economic and social problems, and governments have miserably failed to provide solutions or support.

 Timeline: Quebec’s War on Islam

Bill-9 is simply the latest legislation in a series of laws and policy moves aimed at isolating and then erasing the presence of Islamic symbols and Muslims from public life.

This process began in 2007 and 2008 through the Bouchard-Taylor Commission, a formal inquiry on the “reasonable accommodation” provided to religious minorities. This commission played two roles. First, it validated the feelings of xenophobes (who previously lacked a platform) and, second, it provided a card for Quebec’s corrupt elites to play when they were under public scrutiny for their economic mismanagement of the province. After this, the successive Quebec governments either passed – or tried passing – a series of legislative bills targeting Islam and Muslims.

The first of these was Bill-94 in 2010, which had required individuals to show their faces when receiving public services (clearly targeting our sisters who wear niqaab). It was the first official legislation in Canada directly targeting Muslims and Islam. It did not pass, but the province’s Liberal government introduced it, proving that these discriminatory laws do not necessarily come from separatist groups, but also from so-called mainstream, “inclusive” parties.

In 2013, the Parti Québécois government attempted to pass the “Charter of Values,” or Bill 60, which proposed a sweeping ban on public employees wearing “conspicuous” religious symbols, with official political messaging overtly targeting our Muslim sisters wearing hijab or niqab. The bill failed to pass because the PQ government at the time lost the 2014 election, but it built the conceptual groundwork for Bill-21, which was passed in 2019.

Then, in 2017, the Liberal government of Quebec passed Bill-62, which banned face coverings when receiving or providing public services (e.g., riding the bus, receiving healthcare, interacting with government employees). The law was partially suspended by the courts due to various constitutional concerns, but it normalized the underlying intent (aimed at targeting Islam and Muslims) in Quebec society, setting the groundwork for new laws later.

It should be noted that at the start of 2017, six of our brothers were murdered in a masjid in Quebec City by Alexandre Bissonette, who gunned them down in cold blood. Bill-62 was passed by the Quebec Liberal Party only months after the attack, clearly showing the deep and systemic hate towards Islam and Muslims in the province. There is also no doubt that the brutal attack was nurtured by the decade-long process of normalizing anti-Islam/Muslim sentiment by the political class.

In 2019, the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government passed Bill-21, which became law. Bill-21 banned public sector workers in positions of authority (including teachers) from wearing religious symbols. While presented as a universal policy, the data ultimately showed that the group that was the most affected was Muslim women who wore the hijab. Following Bill-21, there were growing reports from Quebec of Muslim women being barred or denied promotions in teaching. Likewise, Muslim communities disproportionately reported the adverse effects of Bill-21 on their livelihoods, such as seeking work or access to public services.

Today, we are now witnessing the CAQ build on Bill-21 with Bill-9, which, as stated earlier, will bar Muslims from praying salah in public and even in private places such as school, university or a workplace’s multi-faith prayer room. It will also prohibit public institutions like schools from even catering to the dietary needs of Muslims, leading to the obvious risk that a Muslim child could be pressured or even outright forced to eat something that is not halal.

Lessons for Muslims Across Canada

Quebec’s Anti-Islam Mission Cuts Across Party Lines

It is clear now that there is no single particular Quebec government or party responsible for the anti-Islam/Muslim bills. Instead, this strategy of targeting Muslims cuts across party lines, with the Liberal, Conservative, and Separatist factions all aligning on targeting Islam and the Muslim community.

This is a crucial lesson for us Muslims as it shows us the dangers of the secular man-made political system. The political elite will never allow the system to serve as a path for real change which does not advance their capitalistic interests. In Quebec, it is in the political elite’s interests to target the Muslim community, meaning they have no desire to reverse the oppression, regardless of which party or political leader emerges or comes into power.

However, while Quebec is a textbook case of oppression against Muslims in an obvious sense, the underlying reality is no different elsewhere in Canada. Federally, for example, governments may not target Muslims for their individual creedal practices, but they attack us by interfering in the Muslim lands (e.g., occupying Afghanistan, bombing Syria, or arming the Zionist Entity). Let us not fool ourselves – The political elite are aligned on this matter across party lines; thus, one should not expect voting or participating in the system to alter government policy on the issues that matter to us.

The Political Elite Are Always Ready to Target Islam

Whether it is to exploit the Muslim lands or to placate growing public discontent by finding an easy scapegoat, the political elite in the West are always ready to target the Ummah and use it as a scapegoat. We have experienced the hostility of the Canadian government against us in different ways throughout the decades, from the use of the Canadian Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) to spy on our communities or allow for ‘’extraordinary rendition’ programs that see our brothers (like Maher Arar) kidnapped and tortured, to targeted policies aimed at erasing our deen’s presence in Quebec.

Ultimately, the Capitalist political elite throughout the West have nothing of value to offer to their populations. Indeed, these elites and the Capitalist ideology have been responsible for the stark wealth inequality, lack of employment, out-of-control inflation, the breakdown of the family system, and general discontent in Western societies. It is in their interest to point fingers at outsiders – especially Islam and Muslims – to distract their people from their systemic and unfixable failures.

There’s No Protection in Man-Made Laws

Quebec’s strategy for passing Bill-21 and Bill-9, while also avoiding legal scrutiny, has been to invoke the Notwithstanding Clause – also known as Section 33 – of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Section 33 basically permits federal or provincial legislatures to simply override the provisions of the Charter for a period of five years. In other words, Quebec could get away with targeting its Muslim population with discriminatory policies by shielding Bill-21 and Bill-9 with Section 33, even when those bills contradict the Charter.

The point of stating this is not to argue how Quebec is manipulating the Constitution, but rather, to underscore the fundamental problem with man-made laws. Even without Section 33, the nature of man-made law is that it can be changed at the whims of the people. Not only that, but the inclusion of Section 33 in itself overtly sanctifies man’s right to legislate, even if it leads to them creating laws that contradict other laws. Ultimately, the interests of man (especially the political elite) take priority over everything else. 

While the courts may step in from time to time to hold these laws to account, the truth is that, in the end, man-made laws can change or can be ignored. Thus, as Muslims, we should not put any real hope in the Charter, the courts, or the laws to protect us. Allah (SWT) is the One who will protect us, and He (SWT) is the One whose help and guidance we should be seeking.

Muslims Lack a True Homeland to Call Their Own

Ultimately, the issue in Quebec highlights an uncomfortable truth: Canada is not our home. Even if we were born here, the ideology of the land, the interests of the elites, and the culture and practices of the people do not stem from Islam.

We are in a constant state of anxiety and worry, either for our security, our ability to live in these lands, our right to practice Islam, or for the well-being of the Ummah in the Muslim lands. When we try advancing our viewpoints or observations from Islam, we are met with hostility – and that is natural, as the society here is one built on a competing ideology- Capitalism. Not only that, but the elites of this society have an interest in manipulating and oppressing the Muslim lands, and as such, we see them come down hard on Muslims when they resist those efforts (for example, by condemning the Zionist Entity’s genocide in Gaza). 

However, Allah (SWT) has given us guidance on overcoming this – and all other – issues in the Qur’an and in the Sunnah of Rasul’Allah (SAW). He (SWT) commanded us to build an Islamic homeland – i.e., the Khilafah – in the Muslim lands, and Rasul’Allah (SAW) showed us how to do it exactly. This is the only path we can take to regaining our security, our prosperity, and – most importantly – bringing Islam back to the world stage.