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On the same day the city of Montreal announced it will remove the crucifix that hangs in the council chamber at city hall, Quebec Premier François Legault for the first time said the provincial government might remove the crucifix from the National Assembly in Quebec City.

It is a reversal of a position the government has held for months. Legault repeatedly maintained that the crucifix, which has been affixed above the Speaker’s chair in the National Assembly since 1936, would stay because the government considers it a historic artifact and not a religious symbol.

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Crucifixes in government buildings have been part of the debate over religious symbols in Quebec. Some argue there is a contradiction between the province forbidding public servants from wearing visible religious symbols like the hijab or kippa while keeping the crucifix in the National Assembly.

In Montreal, executive-committee member Laurence Lavigne Lalonde, responsible for democracy and governance, announced the crucifix’s removal from council chamber during Wednesday’s executive-committee meeting.