Legault ‘shocked’ by Montreal teacher scandal, pledges to toughen secularism measures

MONTREAL — Quebec Premier François Legault promised on Tuesday to toughen secularism measures in schools, saying he was “shocked” by revelations about a Montreal public school where a group of teachers had tried to introduce what the premier described as “Islamist” beliefs.

Legault appointed Education Minister Bernard Drainville and Jean-François Roberge, the minister responsible for secularism, to come up with solutions to prevent religion from creeping into classrooms following a government report into Montreal’s Bedford school.

“There is something very disturbing in this case. It is this attempt by a group of teachers to introduce Islamist religious concepts into a public school,” Legault wrote on social media. “In Quebec, we decided a long time ago to remove religion from public schools. We will never accept going back.”

The Centre de services scolaire de Montréal — Quebec’s largest school service centre — said Saturday that 11 teachers were suspended with pay after a government investigation found that a “dominant clan” at Bedford school imposed strict, autocratic rule over students.

The investigation revealed that the teachers — many of whom were of North African descent — were allegedly influenced by the local mosque and subjected children to physical and psychological violence. They either refused to teach — or paid little attention to — the science and sex education curriculum.

The evidence gathered suggested some teachers didn’t believe in learning disabilities and neurodevelopmental disorders and refused to let specialists in the classroom, believing instead that discipline — with the idea of “breaking” the student — would put them on the “right path.”

Witnesses told the government investigators that local religious leaders exerted a “strong influence” on several school staff and a mosque representative underscored to school officials the importance of having good relations with the place of worship.

The report mentioned that there were staff members of North African descent who were part of the opposition to the methods of the “dominant clan.”

During a news conference Tuesday in Quebec City, Drainville announced that the 11 teachers — a mix of men and women — have had their teaching licences suspended pending the outcome of disciplinary investigations.

“I’ve raised examples of religious behaviours — whether it is the teacher who starts praying before a student who collapsed in the classroom, whether the classes in science or sexual education are not being taught properly, whether girls were forbidden to play soccer, whether there were interventions by representatives of the mosque nearby to ask the school to behave in a certain way,” Drainville said.

Drainville said preliminary findings show the province’s secularism law — known as Bill 21 — was not being respected at the school.

“According to the members of the committee, there is an issue with the respect of the law on secularism and therefore we have a responsibility to look into what could be done to strengthen this law in relation to Bedford and possibly in relation to other schools in Quebec,” Drainville said.

Legault said it was unthinkable in Quebec in 2024 that teachers were avoiding subjects like science and sex education. “As a government, our first responsibility is to clean up this school to protect the children,” he wrote. “We must also think more broadly to avoid other situations that are just as shocking and, above all, so devastating for children.”

Bill 21 was passed in 2019 and declares the province is a secular state and includes a provision prohibiting public sector workers in positions of authority — including teachers, judges, and police officers — from wearing religious symbols on the job.

Neither Drainville nor Roberge was prepared to say Tuesday what specific steps they would take to address the issue.

“Sometimes you don’t have to change the law,” Roberge said. “You have to apply it, and it’s the job of the principal, it’s the job of the management team of the school centre.”

The government’s investigation was triggered by reports by Montreal’s 98.5 FM beginning in May 2023 about a toxic climate at the school. Education department employees conducted more than 102 hours of interviews with 73 people, and attended a school governing board meeting. The testimonies provided a portrait of a problem stretching back to 2016, as school principals came and went in quick succession.

Drainville has ordered audits at three other Montreal schools — two elementary schools and a high school — that allegedly had similar problems related to the school environment and governance.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 22, 2024.

Sidhartha Banerjee, The Canadian Press