Montreal, 29th February 2024
South Asian Women’s Community Centre* statement
IN SOLIDARITY WITH WOMEN ADVERSELY IMPACTED BY BILL 21
The decision of the Quebec Court of Appeal in the challenge to Bill 21 runs contrary to equality rights for all women as guaranteed in the Quebec and Canadian charters of rights and freedoms, documents that inform our ethos at SAWCC.
The passage of the law, the debates arising from it and the ongoing issue has fed Islamophobia in Quebec, which already has the dubious distinction of being the first place in Canada where Muslims were massacred simply because they were Muslim.
In our work at the Centre we hear from users and members of Islamophobic assaults – verbal and physical against them.
We stand in solidarity with women adversely affected by Bill 21. We will never accept state or religion dictating to us how we must dress, that limit our ability to participate in society, obtain services or find employment.
* The Montreal-based South Asian Women’s Community Centre (SAWCC), a service, support and advocacy organization has been working for forty-three years, providing services and support. While the focus is South Asian women and their families, nobody is turned away. In order to best represent the interests of the communities we serve we also engage in advocacy.
Vrinda Narain, President, SAWCC
[email protected]; 514-265-9557
