REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, OTTAWA – Civil rights organizations and a national advocacy group for Muslims in Canada have filed a lawsuit against the government of the Canadian province of Quebec banning prayer rooms in public schools in Montreal last October.

The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) and the Civil Liberties Association of Canada (CLAC) filed a petition on Friday (26/5/2023) asking for a review. A plaintiff sued because his son wanted a prayer room in his school, but it was not allowed.

According to the report, her son became more pious by doing the five daily prayers, including the midday prayers, while still in school. They pray alone, sometimes in congregation with other Muslim students inside and outside the hall.

But last October, a member of school staff banned Muslim students from praying at school. After the incident, the students asked to provide a special room as a place of prayer to accommodate 20 to 30 male and female students, with supervision and without incident.

However, the room’s provision was canceled in May after the school began enforcing the ban by Education Minister Bernard Drainville. Drainville said the concept of a school prayer room goes against Quebec’s official policy of secularism.

Its April 19 directive stated that school halls could not be used for purposes of religious practice, such as open prayer. The new rules follow reports from at least two Montreal-area schools allowing students to gather on school property to pray.