On Amrit Kaur’s graduation day in June, “Bill 21” — a law that bans some civil servants in positions of authority from wearing religious symbols — came into force in Quebec, Canada’s French-speaking province.

Refusing to remove the turban she wears on a daily basis, the Sikh education graduate became instantly unemployable as a teacher in her home province. She has since moved 4,500km west to anglophone Surrey, British Columbia.

“If federal politicians really don’t want to see a Canada that’s racist, then do something about Bill 21,” said Ms Kaur, who also works with the World Sikh Organisation of Canada.

Ms Kaur’s reaction underlines how fraught an issue the bill, passed by the right-leaning Quebec government of Premier François Legault, has become in Canada’s fiercely contested federal election campaign.

Following the release of a video showing a third instance of Justin Trudeau dressed up in blackface, Canada’s prime minister apologised for how his “racist” behaviour had “hurt people who shouldn’t have to face intolerance and discrimination because of their identity.”

The question is how much damage the blackface scandal has done to his Liberal Party’s bid for reelection on October 21, and whether Mr Trudeau’s carefully-crafted brand of progressivism on the world stage has been forever tarnished.

 

The day after Canada’s federal election campaign officially got under way, the party leaders faced off for their first televised debate, with one conspicuous exception — prime minister Justin Trudeau was a no-show.

While the leaders of three national parties sparred over topics such as the economy, indigenous issues and the environment, a podium put out for Mr Trudeau stood empty. Prior to the debate, Green party leader Elizabeth May pretended to shake hands with an invisible Mr Trudeau.

“I think we can all agree that Justin Trudeau is afraid of his record and that’s why he’s not here tonight,” said Conservative leader Andrew Scheer, who is trailing Mr Trudeau narrowly in the polls.

Mr Trudeau’s decision to stay away from Thursday night’s debate was widely seen as reflective of a government struggling to reconcile the grand promises he made in 2015 about change and transparency in government with the reality of the past four years.