MONTREAL — Quebec’s justice minister says he intends to defend the province’s secularism law to the very end, after the English Montreal School Board said it would seek permission to appeal a decision upholding the law to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Simon Jolin-Barrette made the comments on Thursday while sending a message to the federal government to “mind its own business” about Bill 21, which prohibits public sector workers, like judges and teachers, from wearing religious symbols on the job.