Québec’s Bill 9 doesn’t just ban symbols — it bans obligations

As of Sept. 1, Muslim students at Québec’s post-secondary colleges, known as CEGEPs, will have no place to perform their daily prayers. Jewish, Christian and Muslim independent schools may lose provincial funding. And group prayer in parks will require municipal permission. These are key provisions of Québec’s new secularism law, Bill 9. A challenge to Bill 21, meanwhile — a law prohibiting public employees in positions of authority, such as teachers, police officers and judges, from wearing…