Toronto, March 19, 2026 – On Wednesday, March 25, LEAF will appear before the Supreme Court of Canada to argue that Quebec’s Bill 21, which bans certain public sector employees from wearing religious symbols at work, violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms’ gender equality provision. The law discriminates on the basis of gender because it disproportionately harms Muslim women who wear head coverings.
The Supreme Court will consider Bill 21 in the case of English Montreal School Board et al. v. Attorney General of Québec et al. (EMSB) from March 23-26, 2026. It is unprecedented to have a four-day hearing, but Bill 21 has faced an unprecedented amount of opposition.
In 2019, the Quebec government pre-emptively invoked the notwithstanding clause when passing Bill 21 in order to shield the law from constitutional challenges. Although its use has become increasingly common in recent years, Quebec’s 2019 use was the first time in thirty years that a government invoked the clause in advance to violate the rights of marginalized people. This unprecedented use has raised significant constitutional questions, which the Supreme Court will consider this week.
Importantly, this appeal provides the Supreme Court with the chance to interpret section 28 of the Charter for the first time. Section 28 guarantees the equal exercise of Charter rights as between men and women — and LEAF will argue that this right should extend to people of all genders.
Further, LEAF will submit that section 28 requires an intersectional analysis, which recognizes how multiple grounds of discrimination, such as race, gender, and religion, interact to create unique experiences of marginalization.
LEAF will also argue that while the notwithstanding clause can be used to override some sections of the Charter, section 28 is not one of them – meaning that the Court can strike down Bill 21 as unconstitutional because it violates section 28, despite the presence of the notwithstanding clause.
“The increased use of the notwithstanding clause to override the fundamental rights of people across Canada is extremely troubling,” says Ruth Goba, Executive Director of LEAF. “This case presents a critical opportunity for the Court to clarify the constitutional limits of the clause and to affirm section 28’s gender equality guarantee at the same time. Governments must be prevented from using the notwithstanding clause to pass laws that discriminate against women, girls, trans, and non-binary people.”
Download LEAF’s factum.
LEAF is grateful to be represented by Véronique Roy, Simon Bouthillier, and Anita Badaku-Kpalley (McCarthy Tétrault LLP), as well as Cee Strauss (LEAF) in this case.
LEAF’s interventions are guided by a case committee with expertise in the relevant issues. LEAF is grateful to the case committee members that helped to shape this intervention: Sara Arsenault, Beverley Baines, Natasha Bakht, Nathalie Léger, and Colleen Sheppard.
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About the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF)
The Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) is a national not-for-profit that works to advance the equality of women, girls, and all people who experience gender-based discrimination in Canada through litigation, law reform, and public legal education. Since 1985, LEAF has intervened in more than 100 cases that have helped shape the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and that have responded to violence against women, trans, and non-binary people, pushed back against discrimination in the workplace, allowed access to reproductive freedoms, and provided improved maternity/parental benefits, spousal support, and the right to pay equity. To find out more, visit www.leaf.ca.
