Bedford School: Drainville suspends licences of 11 teachers

“We cannot backtrack,” said Quebec Premier François Legault when expressing that secularism in schools should be strengthened after allegations that certain religious concepts were taught at a Montreal elementary school. Gareth Madoc-Jones reports.

By The Canadian Press and Gareth Madoc-Jones

Quebec Minister of Education Bernard Drainville is suspending the teaching licences of the 11 teachers implicated in the investigation into the Bedford School in Montreal.

“The committees conclude that each of the 11 teachers should be relieved of their duties by the Centre de services scolaires de Montréal (CSSDM) with pay and that their teaching authorization should be suspended by the Ministry of Education for the duration of the upcoming investigation,” Drainville said.

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.

“With my son, starting up the school, second day, and this is his first school, and he came to us, he complained that he afraid to come to school, because the teacher was with him, aggressive and verbally strong,” parent Binaya Sraman told CityNews.

“I believe the government of Quebec should take a strong action against these sort of things.”

Since the report, 11 teachers have been suspended at the school and other investigations are underway in other Montreal schools.

“We want the teachers also to be there for them, and not to criticize whatever their nationality, their gender, or whatever their beliefs,” said parent Erica Mendoza. “Because we presume it’s their belief that is really happening in this school.”

“My kid, the teacher has changed,” added Abdelhak Naciri. “She’s happy right now. I don’t know what’s happened. Because when I asked my kid, she said, ‘I’m OK with the newer (one).’”

Earlier Tuesday, Quebec Premier François Legault said he was “shocked” by the news, adding his government would consider “all options” to prevent such cases from happening again.

The premier emphasized the need to avoid other situations of this kind.

He said he asked 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.

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 said it deplored “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.”

The mother of two children at Bedford said this is the first she’s hearing of “Islamist religious concepts” being taught at the school.

“My oldest daughter is in fifth grade this year, so she has (been here) five years. During these years, I have never heard of a teacher giving a lesson on Islam,” said Asmae.

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.”

–With files from La Presse Canadienne

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