According to his office, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has not “locked the door” on legal action against a Quebec legislation that lost a teacher her job last week due to her headscarf.

According to Wayne Daly, interim head of the Western Quebec School Board, a Grade 3 teacher in Chelsea, Quebec, was reassigned to a different post due to a Quebec statute that prohibits public sector personnel in positions of power from wearing religious insignia.

Since then, he has been overwhelmed with phone calls and emails, the great majority of which are in opposition to the decision. A Grade 3 pupil denounced the move as “unfair” in a hand-drawn card uploaded online by human rights campaigner Amira Elghawaby.

The mostly French-speaking province of Quebec enacted the law in 2019 ostensibly to maintain “laicite” – secularism – in its public service.

The bill, partially upheld by a Quebec court this spring, has been slammed for targeting Muslims, Sikhs and Jews. Federal party leaders demanded an apology during a September federal election debate after the moderator called it discriminatory.

“Nobody in Canada should ever lose their job because of what they wear or their religious beliefs,” Trudeau’s office said in an email. “We haven’t closed the door on making representation in court in the future,” it added.

Inclusion and Diversity Minister Ahmed Hussen told reporters on Thursday it was “premature” to ask the federal government if it plans to oppose the two-year-old law.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA), the National Council of Canadian Muslims and other groups filed documents supporting their argument before an appeals court, likely next year.

They face an uphill battle because Quebec has invoked a clause allowing governments to enact legislation that violates some parts of Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms. But support from the federal government might make a difference, said University of Waterloo politics professor Emmett Macfarlane.

“There is some evidence that government interventions in constitutional cases can have some weight.”

CCLA equality program director Noa Mendelsohn Aviv told Reuters the issue is not Quebec or Canada, but universal human rights.

“Ultimately it is human beings that are being pushed out of their jobs, human beings that are suffering and fundamental rights that are being violated.”