Paper's abstract

Luc Tremblay, Religious signs at school
A few thoughts on the Stasi report and reasonable accomodation
In this article, the author examines the justification of the ban on Islamic headscarves in French schools, colleges and lycées, as given by the Stasi Commission. He argues that the main argument put forward in the Stasi report in support of this ban is acceptable in principle. Then, the author asks whether the same kind of ban would be justifiable in Canada. For this purpose, he reconstructs the «Canadian» position that postulates the existence of a fundamental right to reasonable accommodations or exemptions on religious ground in schools. He recalls that if this position were valid, then it would require a much stronger justification of the ban than the one put forward by the Stasi Commission. Yet, the author criticizes this position and shows that it is ill founded in principle. The argument does not mean that the schools are morally entitled to ban all religious symbols for any kind of reason. However, it means that if the facts similar to those that support the ban on Islamic headscarves in France existed in Canada, one could not oppose the existence of a fundamental right to reasonable accommodation in schools on religious ground to a political decision to ban this religious symbol in schools. Finally, the author maintains that a recent Quebec Court of Appeal decision dealing with the right of a young Sikh to bear his kirpan at school supports his main thesis.


Key Words : Islam, Stasi, Canada, Kirpan
t. 48, 2004 : p. 169-195

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