MONTREAL — Quebec’s top court has rejected a request by a Montreal judge to quash an investigation into her decision to remove a woman from her courtroom for wearing a hijab.
A representative from Quebec’s judicial council said today its investigation into Quebec court Judge Eliana Marengo will proceed.
Marengo refused to hear a case involving Rania El-Alloul in 2015 because the latter refused to remove her Islamic head scarf while in the courtroom.
Quebec’s judicial council received a number of complaints on the matter and formed a committee in June 2016 to investigate 28 of them.
Marengo asked the Quebec Superior Court to force the judicial council to end its investigation, claiming it violated her judicial independence.
She lost and appealed, but was rejected by the Quebec Court of Appeal this week.
Esther Boivin of the judicial council says the investigation will go forward and the next step is to set a date for the hearing.