Law in Quebec

News about Quebec legal developments

Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms

  • Quebec bolsters secularism rules

    The Quebec government has passed a contentious law that tightens secularism rules, extending the province’s ban on the wearing of religious symbols to support staff in schools, much to the chagrin of human rights advocates who slam the effort as nothing less than an attack on the rights of certain minorities, and in particular certain religious minorities.

    Bill 94, An Act to, in particular, reinforce laicity in the education network and to amend various legislative provisions, goes beyond the ban on religious symbols on teachers, school directors and vice-directors imposed by Quebec’s controversial secularism law, widely known as Bill 21, adopted in 2019. It broadens the interdiction to volunteers and all employees, including lunch and after-school care monitors, cafeteria workers, janitors, administrators, secretaries and others. (more…)

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  • Divisive constitutional bill draws praise from proponents and scorn from critics

    The Quebec government tabled an extremely broad and contentious bill that will enshrine a provincial constitution and introduce sweeping legislative changes that will dramatically change the provincial legal landscape while curbing countervailing oversight on multiple fronts, according to constitutional law experts.

    Bill 1, introduced without inclusive, cross-partisan consultation or input from civil society and the Aboriginal peoples, is an expansive patchwork of new statutes that would enact the Constitution of Québec, the Act respecting the constitutional autonomy of Québec and a constitutional council. The Québec Constitution Act, 2025 outlines a set of “founding principles,” including secularism, the equality of women and men, the right to abortion, the immigration integration model as opposed to multiculturalism, and French as the only common language of Quebec. As well, it enshrines the right access to medical assistance in dying in Quebec’s Charter.

    Bill 1 also proposes a hierarchy of collective and individual rights, explicitly proposes to make gender equality prevail over the exercise of religious freedom in case of conflict, and bars a large number of organizations that receive public funds to mount legal challenges to laws declared by the government as protecting the “Québec nation,” its constitutional autonomy and “fundamental characteristics.” It also stipulates that a court cannot on its own initiative “seize itself” of any matter over the constitutionality of a rule of law without a formal application from the parties involved.

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  • Energy board commissioners lose key legal and political battles

    Quebec energy board commissioners have suffered major back-to-back legal and political losses after the Court of Appeal overturned a lower court decision that held they performed quasi-judicial functions and the provincial government passed a sweeping and controversial reform that fundamentally weakens the regulatory powers of the Régie de l’énergie.

    The Quebec government invoked closure in the wee hours of a weekend morning to fast-track a contentious energy bill that will introduce widespread changes to the way the province’s energy sector operates, giving Hydro-Québec free rein to increase its electricity production, with the utility expected to invest some $200 billion by 2025. Bill 69, introduced in June 2024 but passed with the addition of 52 amendments at the last minute without public consultation, allows Hydro-Québec to bypass tendering rules when awarding certain contracts.

    But most alarmingly for critics, the new law curbs the independent oversight imparted by the Régie de l’énergie, an economic regulatory administrative tribunal that oversees the energy sector in Quebec. The Régie, established in 1997, had up until the passage of Bill 69 the power to set the rates and conditions of services for Quebec electricity and natural gas consumers after holding public hearings. Under Bill 69, the provincial government has given itself the right to impose an annual cap on residential rates on the Régie, and that spells trouble for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), according to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB). “The politicization of electricity rates” means that SMEs will be subsidizing lower electricity costs for other consumers, maintains the business group.

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  • Quebec ordered to pay $164 million for Charter breach in class action suit

    The Quebec government has been ordered by Superior Court to pay a staggering $164 million in compensatory damages, plus interest, for knowingly violating the rights of thousands of individuals who were arrested and illegally detained for a longer period of time permitted by the Criminal Code prior to appearing before a Justice of the Peace.

    The comprehensive decision by Quebec Superior Justice Donald Bisson reveals that during a five-year stretch, from 2015 to 2020, the Quebec government stopped offering court appearances on Sundays and statutory holidays due to austerity measures, and failed “in their obligation” to put in place a system that complies with section 503 of the Criminal Code, “knowing full well that their flawed appearance system led to the systemic violation of the fundamental rights” of some 24,000 individuals.

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  • Quebec legislative agenda raises concerns

    The Quebec government is on a disheartening roll.

    A series of legislative proposals introduced this year by the unpopular provincial government have dismayed First Nations, human rights advocates, labour organizations, legal actors and public figures over the dilution of long-standing rights, many of whom intend to mount legal challenges.

    In fact, it has already begun.

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  • Quebec new integration plan for immigrants raises concerns

    The Quebec government tabled a “divisive” bill that proposes to integrate immigrants into a “common culture,” shelving a longstanding model of interculturalism and inclusiveness in favour of one that leans on assimilation, marking a shift will likely alienate ethnocultural communities rather than foster and strengthen ties to Quebec society, lament critics.

    Under Bill 84, An Act respecting national integration, Quebecers who are immigrants are expected to learn French, “participate fully” in French in Quebec society, enrich Quebec culture, embrace state secularism and equality between women and men, and adhere to “democratic values and Quebec values” expressed in particular by the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms. The proposed legislation, pegged as a framework bill, contentiously stipulates that the provincial government “may determine the forms of financial assistance” that can be granted to legal persons or enterprises financed in part by one or more government agencies. Just as controversially, the bill proposes amendments to the Quebec Charter, notably its preamble and sections 9.1, 43 and 50.

    There is growing backlash against the bill. At least 30 former Quebec ministers and professors signed an open letter in the French-language newspaper Le Devoir chastising the provincial government for adopting an assimilationist or melting pot approach that represents a clear break with the model inherited from the Quiet Revolution. “Affirming the specificities of the Quebec approach is essential if we are to offer a credible and fair alternative to Canadian multiculturalism,” said the opinion piece, which was signed by five former Quebec provincial ministers of all political stripes. “In our view, the CAQuist initiative does not do this. On the contrary, the message it sends to immigrants will be detrimental to the project of a welcoming Quebec society.”

    “There are many things that bother me about Bill 84, above all its non-consensual nature,” said Louis-Philippe Lampron, a law professor and a human rights expert at the Université Laval and one of the signatories of the missive. There is a consensus in Quebec, added Lampron, that the tradition of Canadian multiculturalism, long controversial in the province, does not “fit” the Quebec model of managing diversity.

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  • Class actions over COVID-19 certified against Google and Facebook

    Two separate but related class actions were recently certified by Quebec Superior Court against tech behemoths Google and Meta for allegedly breaching Quebecers’ freedom of expression by censoring or making content directly or indirectly related to COVID-19 unaccessible.

    In the suit against Google, class action representative plaintiff Éloïse Boies, who operates a YouTube channel “Élo veut savoir,” alleges that several of her videos that claimed that governments and large companies were censoring information about COVID-19 were deleted.  The videos apparently violated the platform’s policies for propagating “incorrect medical information contradicting that of local health authorities or the World Health Organization (WHO) regarding COVID-19.” Boies is seeking compensatory and punitive damages for anyone who, in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, suffered censorship of their videos by YouTube, as well as to anyone who was unable to view these same videos.

    A similar claim was made against Meta Platforms, owner of Facebook, by Christian Leray, an administrator of the Facebook group Réinfo Québec, an organization of professionals, mainly from the healthcare sector, dedicated to informing the public about the Covid-19 pandemic. Postings by Leray and the group that called into question COVID-19 public health measures were deleted by Facebook, a decision Facebook maintains was justified because it has a policy that prohibits misinformation that could cause physical harm, relays false information about COVID-19 or because information is at odds with its “community standards.” Leray, like Boies, too is seeking compensatory and punitive damages.

    Quebec Superior Court Justice Lukasz Granosik dismissed arguments by the tech giants. Both Google and Facebook maintained that the class actions should not be certified because the class action representatives do not present a defensible case and therefore cannot adequately represent the group. Google added that there are no common issues, but a bundle of eminently individual cases, which makes a class action inadmissible in this case.

    “If Facebook…controls the content that finds its way onto its platform, it cannot deny all responsibility,” held Justice Granosik in Leray c. Meta Platforms inc., 2024 QCCS 1513. “If it carries out censorship, prevents certain people from posting certain information, punishes them by restricting access to their account and thus hinders the free circulation of ideas, it exposes itself to having to defend its ways. Its decision may be well-founded, and it may not incur any liability, but the question arises and it is clear that the plaintiff has a simple possibility of success on the merits.”

    Justice Granosik came to an identical conclusion in Boies c. Google, 2024 QCCS 1512.

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  • Soccer club did not discriminate by refusing to integrate girls into a boys’ team

    A Montreal soccer club did not discriminate by refusing to integrate two girls into a boys’ team, ruled the Quebec Court of Appeal.

    Karine Bellemare, unhappy that her two girls could not play on the same soccer team as their friends (boys), refused to register them in the summer recreational soccer league run by a Montreal soccer league and filed a complaint with the Quebec Human Rights Commission.

    The Commission, following an investigation, adopted a resolution that stated the two girls had been discriminated against on the basis of their sex.

    But the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal dismissed the claim and concluded the Quebec Human Rights Commission, acting for the mother, failed to demonstrate the existence of a prima facie case of discrimination under the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms.

    The Commission appealed, arguing that the Tribunal refused to acknowledge discrimination and stereotypes historically experienced by women.

    The Quebec Appeal Court dismissed the appeal in Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse (Bellemare) c. Club de soccer Les Braves d’Ahuntsic, 2024 QCCA 462.

    The Appeal Court upheld the Tribunal’s conclusion that even on an objective assessment of dignity and its requirements, the evidence does not demonstrate any infringement of their rights. “In a recreational activity intended for children of this age, the fact that the groups are composed in such a way that boys play with boys and girls play with girls in no way undermines their dignity as human beings or that of their parents,” said the Tribunal, a finding upheld by the Appeal Court.

    The Appeal Court also confirmed the Tribunal’s finding that the participation of children in a summer recreational soccer league did not result in discrimination based on historical stereotypes unfavourable to women. “Even if the judge had enumerated historical stereotypes of women, there is nothing to suggest that he would have concluded that the separation of boys and girls reinforced or perpetuated them,” held the Appeal Court.

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  • Strip search not discriminatory, rules Quebec Appeal Court

    A Quebec Human Rights Tribunal that found that a prisoner had been discriminated against during a strip search because he had been viewed by a correctional services officer of the opposite sex was overturned by the Quebec Court of Appeal after it concluded that there was no evidence that the prisoner’s sex played any role in the differential treatment to which he was subjected.

    The Tribunal found that the plaintiff suffered discriminatory treatment with respect to the rights enshrined in ss. 4 (but not 5), 24.1, 25 and 26 of the Québec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms. It ordered the appellants solidarily to pay the plaintiff $6,000 for moral damages, and ordered a prison guard to pay $1,000 in punitive damages.

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  • Human rights lawyers hail Quebec tribunal’s finding that pension provision is discriminatory

    A legislative provision in the Act respecting the Quebec Pension Plan that financially penalizes disability claimants at age 65 was declared unconstitutional because it infringed the right to equality under the Canadian Charter, held the Administrative Tribunal of Quebec in a decision lauded by human rights advocates who say the ruling may ultimately affect thousands of people.

    The long-awaited judgment demonstrates an openness by adjudicators to recognize economic and social rights, and is a clear signal that guidance from the Supreme Court of Canada, particularly in a series of 2020 decisions in Fraser v. Canada (Attorney General), 2020 SCC 28 and Ontario (Attorney General) v. G, 2020 SCC 38, over the notion of substantive equality as opposed to formal equality is making inroads in lower courts and administrative tribunals, according to human law experts. In Fraser, the Supreme Court underscores that substantive equality underpins the court’s equality jurisprudence, and is at its heart the recognition that identical treatment may frequently produce serious inequality.

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  • Far-reaching decision addresses racial profiling in prisons

    The Quebec Human Rights Tribunal ordered the Attorney General of Quebec and eight prison employees to pay a young black man $41,500 in moral and punitive damages in a decision deemed to be a major step forward in the recognition of racial profiling and the duty to accommodate in prisons, according to legal observers.

    The ruling, the first to deal with racial profiling in a Quebec detention center, also issued public interest orders under Article 80 of the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, compelling the provincial Ministry of Public Safety to develop and implement a strategic plan for discriminatory profiling and disseminate the plan to all correctional officers.

    “Given the documented overrepresentation of black people in prisons, it is disturbing that prison staff are not more aware of the phenomenon of racial profiling and the prejudices and stereotypes that affect those who are subject to it,” said the Tribunal in Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse (Toussaint) c. Procureur général du Québec (Ministère de la Sécurité publique), 2023 QCTDP 21.

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  • Quebec ruling ‘important step forward’ for labour rights

    Quebec’s provincial police officers, dissatisfied with the progress of labour negotiations, will begin donning colourful cargo pants, a tactic that was given the green light by a ruling that recognizes the right to modify uniforms as an “associational activity” that could be protected by the Canadian Charter.

    “We have no choice but to resort to a means of visibility that conveys a message of dissatisfaction,” said Jacques Painchaud, president of the Quebec Provincial Police Association (APPQ), in a press release.

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  • Appeal Court underlines employers do not have a free pass to ask questions to potential employees

    A prospective police officer who alleged that the Quebec provincial police force withdrew its pre-employment offer because he has Tourette Syndrome was rebuffed by the Quebec Court of Appeal after it found instead that he was not forthright and did not act in good faith during the hiring process.

    In a decision in line with prior jurisprudence, the Quebec Appeal Court sheds new guidance that advises employers to exercise caution when drafting questionnaires, particularly medical queries, even in cases when pre-employment offers have been made, according to employment and legal experts. The unanimous per curium ruling acknowledges that it is a difficult balance to achieve between asking overly broad questions that may be deemed to be discriminatory under the Quebec Charter of human rights and freedoms and drafting “too specific” questions that may deprive employers of relevant and necessary information.

    “It provides some guidelines to employers,” remarked Finn Makela, a law professor at the Université de Sherbrooke where he teaches labour and employment law. “One, it’s not an open bar. Employers can’t just ask super vague questions. And second, the decision also confirms the jurisprudence that the employer needs to justify in their specific circumstances why questions are related to job functions. So that gives some guidance. But, as the Cour of Appeal says, it’s not always easy.”

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  • Obtaining punitive damages from police remains “high bar”

    The challenge for plaintiffs to obtain punitive damages against police was plainly illustrated yet again according to legal experts after four victims of the 2012 election shooting in a Montreal downtown venue that targeted then-premier-elect Pauline Marois of the Parti Québécois won a partial victory following a court decision that awarded them nearly $300,000 in pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages.

    Quebec Superior Court Justice Philippe Bélanger found that the provincial and Montreal police forces committed a fault of omission and failed to ensure to ensure the safety of the public after they carried out a flawed security plan that allowed a gunman to kill lighting technician Denis Blanchette and seriously injure a second technician who was struck by the same bullet. Justice Bélanger ordered damages to be paid to Blanchette’s colleagues who survived the shooting after they successfully argued that they suffered from post-traumatic stress and other psychological damage following the shooting.

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  • New labour relations legal landscape on the horizon following Appeal Court decision

    A new legal landscape governing labour relations may be in the horizon in Quebec following a Court of Appeal decision that found that the provincial Labour Code breached the Canadian and Quebec Charters by prohibiting first-level managers from unionizing.

    “It’s a very important decision because it kind of creates a crack in the legislative scheme that we have in Quebec with regards to labour relations,” said Shwan Shaker, a labour and employer senior associate with Borden Ladner Gervais LLP. “It’s kind of opening a breach to allow low level managers to unionize. But it’s important to keep in mind that this is really case-by-case.”

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Law in Quebec
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