secularism
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The Puzzle of Neutrality
While we are waiting for the conclusion of the greatest show on earth, a.k.a. as the Supreme Court’s hearings on the Senate reference, here are a couple of thoughts on an unrelated matter ― the case in which the Court has been asked to consider the validity under the Québec Charter of Human Rights and Continue reading
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Bad Poetry
“A statute is written to entrap meaning, a poem to escape it.” So writes Hillary Mantel in Bring Up the Bodies. That’s true ― normally. But some statutes are in fact written to escape meaning rather than to capture it. They are usually bad statutes, and often bad poetry. What was first mooted as the Continue reading
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“We All Have to Compromise”
Once again, apologies for the last week’s silence. I have a good excuse for once, however: I was in Israel to participate in a workshop on the “Law in a Changing Transnational World” at the Tel-Aviv University. The workshop was very instructive, and I plan on having a few posts in the coming days and Continue reading
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Storm and Havoc
Time for more shameless self-promotion, after my rant on Thursday about not being cited by the Québec Court of Appeal. A paper of mine, called “Storm and Havoc: The Rule of Law and Religious Exemptions,” is coming out any time now in the Revue Juridique Thémis de l’Université de Montréal, a mere three years after Continue reading
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Danai Preces Legentes
Although courts in different countries are not infrequently called upon to consider similar issues, it is not very often that they do so at the exact same time. But that might be the case this year with the question the constitutionality of municipal councils opening their meetings with prayers. In Canada, the dispute concerns the Continue reading
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Eux non plus
Je voudrais revenir sur le sujet de la laïcité des représentants de l’État, dont j’ai déjà énormément parlé en lien avec la « Charte des valeurs québécoises » proposée par le gouvernement du Québec. Un aspect du débat qui entoure cette proposition que je n’ai pas abordé jusqu’à présent, c’est l’existence d’un assez large consensus Continue reading
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Not Even Close
I said I would stop writing about the Québec Charter of Values for a while, but I’ll break that promise already, albeit only to report that a number of law professors have given their views on it in the last couple days. Their verdict is almost unanimous: the proposed Charter’s key part, the prohibition on Continue reading
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Chasser les marchands du temple
J’ai beaucoup écrit cette semaine sur la « Charte des valeurs » avec laquelle le gouvernement péquiste se propose d’enchâsser en loi l’intolérance et la méfiance envers « l’autre », celui ― et surtout celle ― qui ne ressemble pas à ce qu’on est habitué de voir « chez nous », intolérance et méfiance qu’il Continue reading
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Can’t Work
The most serious argument I have seen a representative of the Québec government invoke in defence of its proposed “Charter of Values” is Bernard Drainville’s claim, in an interview to the Globe, that “[w]orking for the state is not a right, it is a choice that comes with certain responsibilities.” The argument is that since Continue reading
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Histoire des deux chartes
Dans sa démarche de propagande pour nous faire avaler sa « Charte des valeurs », le gouvernement du Québec la compare souvent à la Loi 101, la Charte de la langue française. L’argument est que les deux Chartes sont semblables en ce qu’elles sont nécessaires et, surtout, en ce que, bien qu’extrêmement controversées au départ, Continue reading
Double Aspect 