MONTREAL – Quebec’s more militant student federation has come out against the province’s proposed charter of values, calling it a smokescreen that distracts voters from other important issues.
The Association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante (ASSÉ) announced its position on Bill 60 on Sunday, after a meeting of 30 student organizations.
It is the first of the three main student associations in Quebec to do so.
“The draft charter tries to exploit feminism for electoral purposes,” ASSÉ co-spokesperson Justin Arcand said in a statement.
“This bill is a direct attack on the right to work of thousands of women in Quebec, and considering that pay equity has still not been achieved, it only reinforces their vulnerability.”
The announcement comes several months after Montreal’s four universities confirmed their own positions against the charter, and a week after the English Montreal School Board denounced the charter and threatened civil disobedience if it was passed.
READ MORE: EMSB tells minister it will never apply Bill 60
The proposed bill aims to ban public sector employees from wearing “ostentatious” religious symbols such as hijabs, large crosses or crucifixes, kippas, niqabs and turbans.
ASSÉ is planning to participate in a demonstration on March 21 to decry the charter and its “underlying racism.”
The federation has more than 70,000 members in 41 associations across the province.
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