LEAF logo
LEAF logo
DONATE
MENU
LEAF logo

Contact

DONATE
Informations en français
  • English
  • Français
  • About
    • Our Story
    • Mission & Vision
    • Staff
    • Board
    • Law Program Committee
    • FAQs
    • Employment Opportunities
    • Student Positions
  • Cases and Law Reform
    • Our Work
    • Issue Areas
      • Reproductive Justice
      • Indigenous Rights and Law
      • Identity-Based Oppression
      • Hate Speech and Online Hate
      • Sexual Assault and Consent Law
      • Gender-Based Violence
      • Access to Justice
      • Workplace Rights
      • Socio-Economic Rights
      • Family Law
    • Search Cases & Submissions
    • Current Work
      • Basic Income Project
      • LEAF’s Feminist Strategic Litigation Project
      • LEAF’s Technology-Facilitated Violence (TFV) Project
      • National Abortion Access Framework
      • Reproductive Justice Project
    • Past Projects
    • Legal Resources
  • Education
    • Overview
    • Workshops, trainings & webinars
    • Factsheets & infographics
  • News & Events
    • Search News & Events
    • Events
  • Publications
    • Search Publications
    • Working Papers
    • Reports
    • Annual Reports
  • Regional Branches
    • Overview
    • LEAF Edmonton
    • LEAF Halifax
    • LEAF Hamilton
    • LEAF Kingston
    • LEAF Ottawa
    • LEAF Québec
    • LEAF Thunder Bay
    • LEAF Toronto
    • LEAF Windsor
  • Get Involved
    • Ways to Get Involved
    • Donate
    • Join a Branch
    • Volunteer
    • Become a LEAF Pro Bono Lawyer
    • Partner with LEAF
Menu
  • About
    • Our Story
    • Mission & Vision
    • Staff
    • Board
    • Law Program Committee
    • FAQs
    • Employment Opportunities
    • Student Positions
  • Cases and Law Reform
    • Our Work
    • Issue Areas
      • Reproductive Justice
      • Indigenous Rights and Law
      • Identity-Based Oppression
      • Hate Speech and Online Hate
      • Sexual Assault and Consent Law
      • Gender-Based Violence
      • Access to Justice
      • Workplace Rights
      • Socio-Economic Rights
      • Family Law
    • Search Cases & Submissions
    • Current Work
      • Basic Income Project
      • LEAF’s Feminist Strategic Litigation Project
      • LEAF’s Technology-Facilitated Violence (TFV) Project
      • National Abortion Access Framework
      • Reproductive Justice Project
    • Past Projects
    • Legal Resources
  • Education
    • Overview
    • Workshops, trainings & webinars
    • Factsheets & infographics
  • News & Events
    • Search News & Events
    • Events
  • Publications
    • Search Publications
    • Working Papers
    • Reports
    • Annual Reports
  • Regional Branches
    • Overview
    • LEAF Edmonton
    • LEAF Halifax
    • LEAF Hamilton
    • LEAF Kingston
    • LEAF Ottawa
    • LEAF Québec
    • LEAF Thunder Bay
    • LEAF Toronto
    • LEAF Windsor
  • Get Involved
    • Ways to Get Involved
    • Donate
    • Join a Branch
    • Volunteer
    • Become a LEAF Pro Bono Lawyer
    • Partner with LEAF
Home / Cases and Law Reform / Search Cases & Submissions

Case Summary

Hak v. Attorney General of Quebec

This case is about discrimination against women who wear religious symbols.

LEAF, in partnership with the Fédération des Femmes du Québec (FFQ), will intervene before the Quebec Court of Appeal.

Facts

Law 21, An Act Respecting the Laicity of the State, restricts the wearing of religious symbols in certain professions with the goal of affirming Québec as a secular state.

For example, women who wear hijabs can no longer be hired as teachers. Women who wear niqabs are prohibited from working in most parts of public administration. Further, women who wear niqabs cannot benefit from public services because the law requires that individuals who wish to receive public services must do so with their faces uncovered. 

The government, well aware that its law infringes equality rights, freedom of expression, and freedom of religion, pre-emptively used the override clause to prevent any constitutional challenges.

Arguments

LEAF and the FFQ will argue that the law infringes gender equality, in particular by discriminating against women who wear religious symbols.  

As interveners, LEAF and the FFQ will propose an analytical framework to the Court of Appeal that will allow for a little-known provision of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, section 28, to be used to its full potential. The organizations will argue that this provision ensures the protection of gender equality, even when a government chooses to use the override clause.

The section 28 gender equality guarantee was included in the Charter to ensure that women and gender-diverse people would have the same rights as men, and to ensure that the state could not engage in gender-based discrimination with impunity. In a case such as this one, where women are so clearly disproportionately harmed by the effect of a law, the gender equality guarantee steps in to declare the law unconstitutional.

Outcome

This case has not yet been heard by the Quebec Court of Appeal.

LEAF and the FFQ are grateful to their counsel, Véronique Roy, Lana Rackovic, Geneviève Claveau, Fady Toban, and Sean Griffin (Langlois Avocats), for their pro bono representation before the Court of Appeal.  

LEAF and the FFQ are also grateful to the members of the case committee that helped to shape this intervention: Natasha Bakht, Safa Ben Saad, Samaa Elibyari, Nancy Labonté, Laïty Ndiaye, Samira Laouni, and Colleen Sheppard.

See LEAF’s factum (translated from French) here.

Case News

Loading...

Nov 08, 2022

LEAF and the FFQ to argue at Québec Court of Appeal that Bill 21 violates the constitutional right to gender equality

Apr 21, 2022

LEAF and the Fédération des Femmes du Québec tell the Québec Court of Appeal that Bill 21 violates the constitutional right to gender equality
Help us promote gender equality
Donate to support equality

Search Cases & Submissions

  • Issue Area

  • Type

  • By Date

  • Keyword

  • Reset search
Help us promote gender equality
Donate to support equality

Stay up to date on feminist law and LEAF’s work to advance gender equality



Related Cases

Loading...

Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform v. Canada (Attorney General)

This case is about the constitutionality of Criminal Code sex work provisions.

Hak v. Attorney General of Quebec

This case is about discrimination against women who wear religious symbols.
More Cases

Related Cases

Loading...

Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform v. Canada (Attorney General)

This case is about the constitutionality of Criminal Code sex work provisions.

R. v. Slatter (2020)

This case concerned access to justice for women labelled with intellectual disabilities.
More Cases

Related Issue Area

Loading...

Identity-Based Oppression

Case Summary

Hak v. Attorney General of Quebec

Sidebar Placeholder

LEAF_FAEJ_hz_names_colour_rgb_rev
Donate to support equality

National Office
180 Dundas Street West, Suite 1420
Toronto, ON M5G 1Z8
[email protected]
Phone: 416.595.7170
Toll-free: 1.888.824.5323
Facsimile: 416.595.7191

Stay up to date on feminist law and LEAF’s work to advance gender equality



LEAF_FAEJ_hz_names_colour_rgb_rev

National Office
180 Dundas Street West, Suite 1420
Toronto, ON M5G 1Z8
[email protected]
Phone: 416.595.7170
Toll-free: 1.888.824.5323
Facsimile: 416.595.7191

Charitable Registration Number: 10821 9916 RR0001

Facebook-f Twitter Instagram

Stay up to date on feminist law and LEAF’s work to advance gender equality



Donate to support equality

© 2020 Women’s Legal Education & Action Fund (LEAF). All rights reserved. | Legal & Privacy | Accessibility | Website by Affinity Bridge

MENU

  • About
    • Our Story
    • Mission & Vision
    • Staff
    • Board
    • Law Program Committee
    • FAQs
    • Employment Opportunities
    • Student Positions
  • Cases and Law Reform
    • Our Work
    • Issue Areas
      • Reproductive Justice
      • Indigenous Rights and Law
      • Identity-Based Oppression
      • Hate Speech and Online Hate
      • Sexual Assault and Consent Law
      • Gender-Based Violence
      • Access to Justice
      • Workplace Rights
      • Socio-Economic Rights
      • Family Law
    • Search Cases & Submissions
    • Current Work
      • Basic Income Project
      • LEAF’s Feminist Strategic Litigation Project
      • LEAF’s Technology-Facilitated Violence (TFV) Project
      • National Abortion Access Framework
      • Reproductive Justice Project
    • Past Projects
    • Legal Resources
  • Education
    • Overview
    • Workshops, trainings & webinars
    • Factsheets & infographics
  • News & Events
    • Search News & Events
    • Events
  • Publications
    • Search Publications
    • Working Papers
    • Reports
    • Annual Reports
  • Regional Branches
    • Overview
    • LEAF Edmonton
    • LEAF Halifax
    • LEAF Hamilton
    • LEAF Kingston
    • LEAF Ottawa
    • LEAF Québec
    • LEAF Thunder Bay
    • LEAF Toronto
    • LEAF Windsor
  • Get Involved
    • Ways to Get Involved
    • Donate
    • Join a Branch
    • Volunteer
    • Become a LEAF Pro Bono Lawyer
    • Partner with LEAF
  • English
  • Français