Beyond the important questions raised as to the constitutional validity of the Act Respecting the Laicity of the State, which will no doubt fuel political and legal debate over the next decade, is it true to claim that this law establishes a new regime for the separation of religion and the state in Quebec? The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that the only concrete changes that the Act Respecting the Laicity of the State will impose on the rules currently applicable in Quebec are the two prohibitions concerning the wearing of certain religious symbols. For the rest, the Act Respecting the Laicity of the State essentially confines itself to codifying rules and principles that already applied to officers of Quebec public institutions and that will continue to apply even if the Act Respecting the Laicity of the State were to be repealed or declared unconstitutional by the courts in the coming years.

Keywords: laicity, Quebec law, position in authority, prohibition, religious symbols, rights and freedoms, Charter.