Sector Workers: Appeal and Mckenzie

sector workers: McKenzie said it is rare for a judge to grant leave to appeal a lower court's decision denying an injunction, according to National Observer. Quebec's secularism law, known as Bill 21, prohibits some public sector workers, including teachers and police officers, from wearing religious symbols at work. Catherine McKenzie, a lawyer for the applicants, said Quebec Court of Appeal Chief Justice Nicole Duval Hesler did not give a reason for granting leave to appeal in a ruling from the bench. McKenzie and other lawyers representing a national Muslim organization, a civil liberties group and a university student who wears an Islamic head scarf had asked for an immediate stay of the central components of the law while their full legal challenge is heard. He noted in his written ruling that the applicants were severely limited in their stay application because Bill 21, adopted in June, invokes the Canadian Constitution's notwithstanding clause. They argued the law was causing serious harm to religious minorities because it encroached on federal jurisdiction, it was impermissibly vague and it violated a citizen's right to participate in their democratic institutions. ; But Superior Court Justice Michel Yergeau ruled on July 18 that the groups had failed to demonstrate the law is creating enough damage to warrant the stay. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.