OTTAWA — The federal government's request to Canada's top court for limits on the notwithstanding clause isn't only about Quebec's secularism law, Justice Minister Sean Fraser said on Thursday.

In a media statement, Fraser said he hopes the Supreme Court's eventual decision "will shape how both federal and provincial governments may use the notwithstanding clause for years to come."

On Wednesday, Ottawa filed a factum — a written statement of fact and law — to the top court in the landmark case on Quebec's Bill 21, better known as the secularism law. The law prohibits public sector workers in positions of authority — including teachers and judges — from wearing religious symbols on the job.

Quebec invoked the notwithstanding clause — Section 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Free

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