Montreal to shed city hall welcome sign that includes woman wearing hijab

MONTREAL — A welcome sign in the lobby of Montreal’s newly renovated city hall depicting a woman wearing a headscarf will be removed in the name of secularism, Montreal’s mayor says, following criticism that the image is offensive.

Valérie Plante said during a talk show that aired Sunday night that the drawing of a woman wearing what looks like a hijab, or Islamic headscarf, will be taken down because of the “discomfort” it causes but also because institutions must strive to be secular.

In the image, which is in the style of a pencil sketch, the woman is standing between two men — one who seems younger and is wearing a baseball cap and overcoat, and an older man with his hands crossed in front of him. “Welcome to Montreal City Hall!” is written in French above them.

“I think we can talk about diversity — the great cultural wealth of Montreal — while favouring secularism,” Plante told Radio-Canada talk show “Tout le monde en parle.”

Meanwhile, in the city’s east end, another photo involving a hijab recently stoked controversy. The public library in the Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough used a photo with children — including a smiling girl wearing a hijab — to advertise a reading event for kids aged three to six.

Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon has said the welcome sign at City Hall and the library advertisement show that religion has begun invading the public sphere.

Religion’s supposed infiltration into public spaces has resurfaced in recent weeks after 11 teachers were suspended at a Montreal public elementary school over allegations of toxicity and creeping religious instruction.

The image at City Hall, which was still up on Monday, was revealed last June, after the building reopened following extensive renovations. Since then, there have been numerous calls for it to be taken down.

The Mouvement laïque québécois, which advocates for state secularism, said in July the image “offends the vast majority of women and men of all religions or beliefs who want real and apparent secularism in their public institutions in the name of equality and freedom of conscience.”

Pour les droits des femmes du Québec, a women’s rights group, wrote to Plante during the summer, calling the image unacceptable, describing the hijab as a fundamentalist religious symbol and saying the decision to display it does not “pass the threshold of social acceptability and can only weaken social cohesion.”

Plante said Sunday the process to replace the image was already underway.

The mayor’s office said Monday it had nothing further to add about Plante’s appearance on the talk show, which came just days after she announced she wouldn’t seek a third term in next year’s elections.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 28, 2024.

Sidhartha Banerjee, The Canadian Press