Bedford School: ‘Shocked,’ Legault wants to take measures to avoid other cases
Posted October 22, 2024 8:41 am.
Last Updated October 22, 2024 10:28 am.
“Shocked” by the news in recent days about the behaviour of teachers at Montreal’s Bedford School, Quebec Premier François Legault said his government would consider “all options” to prevent such cases from happening again.
A few days ago, a report from the Ministry of Education painted a devastating picture of the Montreal school, reporting a toxic climate of fear and intimidation imposed by a clique of teachers.
According to the report, soccer was banned for girls and certain subjects, including ethics and religious culture and sex education, were not taught or were barely taught.
Since then, 11 teachers have been suspended at the school and other investigations are underway in other Montreal schools.
According to the premier, this was the right thing to do to correct the situation, but he emphasizes the need to go further to avoid other situations of this kind.
He said he asked Minister of Education Bernard Drainville and his colleague responsible for secularism, Jean-François Roberge, to think about ways to “strengthen controls and secularism in schools and to ensure that we prevent these situations.”
“We must take the time to examine all the options,” he wrote in a letter released Tuesday morning.
Bonjour tout le monde,
— François Legault (@francoislegault) October 22, 2024
Comme beaucoup d’entre vous, j’ai été très choqué de ce qui s’est passé à l’école Bedford. Qu’on introduise des concepts religieux dans une école publique, qu’on refuse la science pour aider nos enfants, que des enseignants forment un clan et menacent…
The premier also denounced an “attempt by a group of teachers to introduce Islamist religious concepts into a public school.”
“In Quebec, we decided a long time ago to remove religion from public schools. We will never accept going back,” he stressed.
On Monday, at a press conference, the Parti Québécois also hit the nail on the head about secularism, deploring “religious and ideological infiltration” into schools.
The ministry’s report states that the dominant camp of teachers in question was “mainly composed of people of Maghrebi origin.” However, it qualifies this by stating that, “although the majority clan is mainly composed of people of Maghrebi origin, people of other origins are also associated with it. Likewise, the minority clan is also partly composed of individuals of Maghrebi origin, including some of the strongest opposition to the majority clan.”
On Tuesday, the Centre de services scolaires de Montréal’s (CSSDM) director general Isabelle Gélinas again chose not to comment the file when asked by CityNews. Repeating an earlier statement, the service centre said, “With the minister’s confidence, Gélinas is devoting herself to the work underway to restore a healthy and safe environment in Bedford and is fully cooperating in the context of the audit mandates in three other schools.”
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
