English Montreal School Board, et al. v. Attorney General of Quebec, et al.

About the case

English Montreal School Board, et al. v. Attorney General of Quebec, et al. considers an important legal issue affecting human rights across Canada today: the use of Section 33 the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, also known as the “notwithstanding clause”, by several provincial governments.  

In 2019, the Quebec government passed a law commonly referred to as Bill 21, prohibiting certain people working in public roles from wearing religious symbols at work and requiring them to work with their face uncovered. The Quebec government used the notwithstanding clause to override freedom of religion, expression, and equality rights for the people and communities who are impacted by the law. This includes people who are part of minority religious communities, including Muslim women who wear the hijab.

Many groups are challenging the constitutionality of the law at the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC). In March 2026, the SCC will hear arguments about the use of the notwithstanding clause, as well as other provisions of the Charter that may limit its use, such as s. 28 of the Charter.

S. 33 of the Charter: Notwithstanding Clause

While this case deals with a law passed by the Government of Quebec, it has significant implications for human rights protections across Canada.

Currently, s. 33 allows governments to override many fundamental human rights protections guaranteed by the Charter. This means governments can ignore the impacts that laws have on human rights protections, such as:

• The right to equality
• Freedom of conscience and religion
• Freedom of thought, belief, and expression
• The right to life, liberty, and security of the person.

The notwithstanding clause threatens hard-won human rights guarantees, including significant protections that women and people who are marginalized because of their gender rely on.

Section 28 of the Charter: Gender Equality

Section 28 of the Charter states that notwithstanding anything in the Charter, the Charter’s rights and freedoms are guaranteed equally to “male and female persons”.

The English Montreal School Board et al., is arguing that:

• S. 28 of the Charter guarantees gender equality despite the notwithstanding clause being used.
• Quebec’s law infringes on s. 28 of the Charter by violating the guarantee of gender equality for Muslim women.

This case is the first time the SCC has been asked to make a finding that s. 28 of the Charter has been violated.

West Coast LEAF’s involvement

West Coast LEAF is intervening before the SCC to address how s. 28 of the Charter and its equality guarantee should be interpreted and applied. We will ask the Court to:

• Develop a robust and intersectional approach to s. 28 of the Charter to ensure that it advances substantive equality and accounts for distinct harms.
• Interpret s. 28 in a manner that respects multicultural diversity, which is an obligation enshrined in s. 27 of the Charter.
• Interpret s. 28 inclusively so that it protects all people who experience gender-based discrimination, including Two-Spirit, trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming people.

The SCC’s approach to s. 28 and the notwithstanding clause will impact equality and human rights for women and people who experience gender-based discrimination. Quebec’s law disproportionately impacts the economic security of Muslim women, as they face intersecting forms of marginalization based on gender, religion, and other grounds. Additionally, the legal issues in this case have broad implications on how the Charter’s protections develop or regress, and on the equality rights of marginalized peoples and communities across Canada.

This intervention builds on West Coast LEAF’s history of developing equality rights guaranteed by the Charter, and advocating for substantive equality for women and people marginalized based on gender. Our past work in this area includes Single Mothers’ Alliance v. BC and interventions in Canadian Council for Refugees v. Canada and BC Civil Liberties Association and John Howard Society v. Canada (Attorney General).

What’s next

The Supreme Court of Canada will hear this case from March 23 to 26, 2026. West Coast LEAF is represented by pro bono lawyers Robyn Trask, Gita Keshava from Ethos Law Group, alongside our Staff Lawyer, Humera Jabir.

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