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Quebec’s largest English school board, the EMSB, has filed a legal challenge against the province’s religious symbols ban.

The lawsuit, filed Monday, alleges that Bill 21 forces the EMSB to promote gender bias and violates the constitutional right of Quebec’s English minority to govern its own schools.

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Bill 21 forbids public-school teachers and other provincial employees in positions of authority from wearing religious symbols on the job. While it’s meant to cement the separation of state and church in Quebec, the school board’s lawyers say it disproportionately targets Muslim women who wear the hijab.

Because Bill 21 was passed using the notwithstanding clause, it cannot be challenged on grounds that it violates religious liberties outlined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. However, the notwithstanding clause does not exempt the law from being challenged on grounds of gender equality.