Quebec asks Supreme Court judge to recuse himself: Bill 21 case

Following a legal challenge to Bill 21 on the secular nature of the state, Quebec Attorney General Simon Jolin-Barrette asked Superior Court Judge Mahmoud Jamal to recuse himself, fearing he “does not have the impartiality required to hear this case.”

The information, first reported by Le Devoir, was confirmed by The Canadian Press.

In a letter sent to the Supreme Court on Wednesday, the Attorney General of Quebec pointed out that Judge Jamal was the president of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) at the time the association filed an appeal to the Supreme Court challenging the Loi sur laïcité de l’État in June 2019.

“As president of the association, Judge Jamal must have participated in some way in the preparation of this 194-paragraph proceeding, whether in drafting it, revising it or simply approving its content,” reads the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Canadian Press.

The letter also stated that “the fact that Judge Jamal had to decide constitutional law issues raised by the association when he was its president means that he will now be a judge in a case to which he was a party.”

The Canadian Press has also obtained letters from the Mouvement laïque québécois (MLQ) and the group Pour les droits des femmes du Québec (PDF Québec), which are also seeking the removal of Judge Jamal on grounds similar to those used by Quebec.

However, in a letter dated June 25, the Supreme Court has already indicated that Judge Jamal does not intend to withdraw his position.

“(He) believes there is no actual or reasonably perceptible conflict of interest that would cause him to recuse himself,” reads the letter, a copy of which was also obtained by The Canadian Press.

Jamal was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of Canada on July 1, 2021. Previously, according to the Supreme Court website, he served as a judge of the Ontario Court of Appeal from 2019 to 2021. Prior to his appointment, Jamal was an attorney at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt.

Several organizations, including the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, have asked the Supreme Court to review the Quebec Court of Appeal’s ruling on Bill 21. The country’s highest court has not yet indicated whether it will take up the case.

The federal government has already announced that it will take part in a possible legal action against Bill 21 before the Supreme Court, while Quebec has always promised to defend the country’s secularism “to the very end.”

Appeal court rules in Quebec’s favour

In February last year, the Court of Appeal almost entirely approved Bill 21, finding that it did not infringe the language rights of school boards in England.

The Court of Appeal also confirmed that Quebec was entitled to apply the preventive notwithstanding provision as it did in the case of Bill 21.

This was a serious blow to opponents of the legislation.

Bill 21 prohibits government employees in leadership positions – including teachers – from wearing religious symbols such as a Muslim headscarf, Jewish yarmulke, Sikh turban and Christian crosses.

– This report from La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews