Toronto councillors vow to back Brampton mayor's opposition to 'discriminatory' Quebec law

A pair of Toronto city councillors say they will introduce a motion to help push forward a local effort to fight a Quebec law that critics have called discriminatory.

The comments come as Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown sent a letter to Canada’s mayors urging them to stand up against Bill 21, a piece of legislation that bans civil servants from wearing religious symbols.

The bill, which was passed in 2019, received national attention last week when a Grade 3 teacher in Chelsea, Que., was removed from her job for wearing a hijab.

On Wednesday, Brampton’s city council approved $100,000 in financial support to a legal challenge against the province of Quebec, spearheaded by three organizations—The National Council of Canadian Muslims, the World Sikh Organization of Canada and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.

“Bill 21 is discriminatory,” Brown said in a statement Wednesday. “As elected leaders, we must never trade foundational principles for electoral purposes that undermine the country at large. Religious freedom is a foundational principle that we must stand up for, and I thank City Council for standing up for what is right.”

On NEWSTALK 1010's Moore in the Morning, Toronto’s Deputy Mayor Michael Thompson commended Brown for issuing a call to action for municipalities across the country, asking them to donate funds to help fight Bill 21 in court.

"(Prime Minister Justin) Trudeau is not doing anything about it, Erin (O'Toole) is not doing anything about it, Jagmeet (Singh) is not doing anything about it, so Patrick has taken this on, because obviously, he has a constituency there that feels that they're being discriminated against, and rightfully so, and it's unfair, it's unjust," Thompson said, adding that he is prepared to put forward a motion asking the City of Toronto to join Brown and other mayors in supporting Bill 21’s challenge.

Councillor Shelley Carroll told NEWSTALK1010 that said she would second the motion.

"This is a reminder that many times in history, it's been at the municipal level where you have more local reach, and you have a sense of what concerns people and what they're worried about that, that sometimes these leadership moves come," Carroll said.

Thompson added that it's critical for a city as diverse as Toronto to speak out when they believe wrongdoing is occurring.

"We are the most multicultural city in the world, if we don't take a position on this, quite frankly, I think that it really defeats that idea in terms of sort of bringing people together and respecting people's individual rights," Thompson said. "I think that we really need to take a position. It's not healthy just to leave it the way it is."

Just moments after the exchange on Moore in the Morning, Brown joined the show to commend the Toronto councillors for tossing their support behind him.

He said that he spoke with Toronto Mayor John Tory Wedneaday night and he said the city “would look at ways to step up and support the legal fight.”

“This can really level the playing field when you have groups like the National Council of Canadian Muslims, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, the World Sikh Organization, essentially fundraising… in a fight against the Quebec government with unlimited legal resources. It's not a fair fight, it's not going to be a fair fight in the Supreme Court,” Brown said.

Brown says legal resources make a huge difference in court challenges, so if municipalities can help shoulder the burden of fighting this law, they should.

“I think if Canada's big cities step up and fill the void, where the government of Canada has been absent, we can make this a fair fight, and do our best to defend the Charter.”