We're only a week or two into the first school year under the CAQ's new secularism legislation, but it appears at least three teachers have already felt the effects of the new law.
According to Le Devoir, a newly hired elementary school teacher at the Commission scolaire de Montréal was given a warning to remove her hijab by September 10 because she does not qualify for the law's grandfather clause. It's believed to be the first case of a teacher running afoul of the legislation.
The School Board did not comment on what sanctions the teacher may face should she not remove her hijab.
The President of the Montreal Teachers Alliance, Catherine Beauvais-St-Pierre, told the newspaper the union does not know how the law will be applied, and from her impression neither does the CSDM.
At the Pointe-de-l'Île School Board, where the current teacher shortage has left nine primary classes without a teacher, two candidates had their applications turned away because they refused to remove their hijabs. Neither teacher worked at the school board prior to the law coming into effect so they are not eligible for the acquired rights clause.
President of the CSPI, Miville Boudreault, told the newspaper without the ban on religious symbols both would have been welcomed with open arms.