Few issues have split the Canadian secular community like Quebec’s Bill 21. Though CFIC spoke out against the legislation when it was enacted in 2019, other secular groups, especially in Quebec, vociferously support the law.
With the Supreme Court hearing the case March 23 – 27, 2026, the time is right for secularists who disagree about the merits of Bill 21 to have a principled discussion. (You can find a primer on Bill 21 with many links to previous Critical Links articles here.)
Join Leslie Rosenblood, Secular Chair of CFIC (and host of Podcast for Inquiry), and Michel Virard, co-founder of Association Humaniste du Quebec, on Sunday, January 18, at 11:00 am ET for a conversation about whether Bill 21 advances the cause of secularism in Canada, or if it is a regressive piece of legislation that violates the rights of Quebecers. (Podcast for Inquiry’s third and fourth episodes (released in February 2022) were dedicated to Bill 21; Catherine Francis believes it is a bad law, while Caroline Russell-King is staunchly in favour – and both argue from a secular perspective.)
Register for “2 Solitudes of Secularism” here, organized and hosted by The New Enlightenment Project.
I will be sure to watch this. It will take a lot to convince me that Bill 21 is nothing but a regressive piece of legislation that violates the rights of Quebecers.