A depiction of a woman in a hijab as part of a welcome sign at Montreal’s city hall will be removed amid public backlash and in response to criticism that the image is at odds with Quebec’s commitment to secularism.
The recently renovated city hall featured a welcome sign in the lobby with a drawing of three individuals, two men and a woman in a hijab.
The pencil-style sketch said “Welcome to Montreal City Hall!” written in French above them.
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante told Radio-Canada during an interview on Sunday that the decision to remove the image was made in response to the “discomfort” it causes and also because institutions should remain secular.
“I think we can talk about diversity — the great cultural wealth of Montreal — while favouring secularism,” said Plante.
Additionally, an advertisement image of children reading at Montreal’s east end public library in the Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough featuring a girl wearing a hijab has caused a stir among some.
Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon called both the city hall and the library images a sign that religion has started to invade the public sphere.
The image at Montreal’s city hall was initially unveiled last June following the building’s extensive renovations, however, there have been numerous calls to have it removed ever since.
The Mouvement laïque québécois, a group that advocates for state secularism, argued that the image “offends the vast majority of women and men of all religions or beliefs who want real and apparent secularism in their public institutions in the name of equality and freedom of conscience” in a July statement.
Another provincial women’s rights group, Pour les droits des femmes du Québec, called the image unacceptable in a letter to Plante earlier this year, describing the hijab as a fundamentalist religious symbol.
The group claimed that the city’s decision to display it does not “pass the threshold of social acceptability and can only weaken social cohesion.”
The Association of Iranian Women of Montreal also criticized the image being a representation of women’s oppression.
The Canadian Council of Muslim Women, which supports women who choose to wear the hijab, agreed that the image was poorly designed because it’s not an accurate representation of the full diversity of Montrealers.
However, the group said its removal sends the wrong message.
“The impression we get is that we should be invisible. We’re not part of the society, we’re pushed to the margin of society. So this is denying our presence,” Samaa Elibyari, co-chairperson for the group’s Montreal chapter, told CBC News.
Quebec’s Bill 21, which prohibits religious symbols from the public sphere passed in June 2019 and was met with strong criticisms that it disproportionately impacted religious minorities and those who hold more conservative values.
“Under the bill, personnel members of a body must exercise their functions with their face uncovered,” states the bill.
Bill 21 has been heavily criticized by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, who said, “regardless of what you believe or practice, and whether you subscribe to a particular set of religious beliefs or don’t, protecting freedom of religion is an important part of ensuring that all people are treated with equal dignity and respect.”
“The state should be neutral and impartial when it comes to matters of deeply-held personal beliefs,” it added.
