Thread by @DoubleAspect

Short (?) thread on Québec's #Bill21, "An Act respecting the laicity of the State". (The bill is available here: assnat.qc.ca/en/travaux-par…. By the way, @AssnatQc, you shouldn't force people to download PDFs to read bills!)

The problems start with the title. "Laicity" a calque, not an accurate translation, of "laïcité". It means something else in English (namely: "the status or influence of the laity", per the OED).

This makes me wonder whether this is a good occasion for the @BarreauduQuebec's abandoned challenge to the non-bilingualism in the legislative process to be revived, as part of an attack on Bill 21. 3/

And there are grounds to challenge the constitutionality of Bill 21, notwithstanding its resort to the notwithstanding clauses of the Québec and Canadian Charters. 4/

For one thing, as @martinevalois has pointed out, there's s 28 of the Canadian Charter, which isn't subject to the s 33 notwithstanding clause. Not sure how it would play out (@KerriFroc?), but given Bill 21 is an attack on Muslim women above all, worth thinking about. 5/

And here's @KerriFroc:

https://twitter.com/KerriFroc/status/1111351307447746560

. 5a/

But perhaps most importantly, there's a real argument to be made that Bill 21 is ultra vires the Québec legislature. I made such arguments re Bill 21's daddy, the "Charter of Québec Values": doubleaspectblog.wordpress.com/2014/03/05/la-… and doubleaspect.blog/2014/03/06/cha… 6/

And @MaxSaintH has now made a more thorough version of the argument here: blogueaquidedroit.wordpress.com/2019/03/27/pro…. I agree with him. (I'll try to post an English version of his post, with some comments, in the coming days.) 7/

Morally, Bill 21 is a catastrophe. It is a shameful, unwarranted intrusion on individual liberty, and a cover for discrimination. But despite the Québec government's efforts, there is a constitutional case to make against it. I hope someone takes it up! Fin. 8/8