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QUEBEC — With his ministers saying the police or the courts will be responsible for applying Quebec’s secularism bill, Premier François Legault stayed vague — saying only that the government will take the necessary means for the law to be respected.

Following reports of possible acts of civil disobedience emerging following the tabling last week of Bill 21, Public Security MInister Geneviève Guilbault sparked a controversy Tuesday when she said police would ultimately be responsible for enforcing the legislation.

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That means, in theory, they could be sent into a school board to force it to apply the law which states newly hired teachers cannot wear religious symbols.

“The law is the law,” Guilbault said, arriving for question period at the legislature. “People will advise police services; it’s like the application of any other law.”

Moments later, however, Legault was more cautious, refusing to say specifically how the government will ensure the bill — which will ban certain authority figures in public service from wearing religious symbols — will be respected.