By Canadian Press

Quebec orders audits at 17 schools after complaints over secularism non-compliance

Nov 14, 2024 | 9:18 AM

MONTREAL — Quebec Education Minister Bernard Drainville says his department will investigate complaints at 17 schools across the province where it is alleged that state secularism is not being respected.

Questions around religious neutrality in schools have been swirling since the publication last month of an Education Department report on a school in Montreal, where media reports had exposed questionable religious practices and a toxic climate.

Eleven teachers were suspended with pay at Montreal’s Bedford school pending a complete investigation into the allegations.

Drainville says in a statement that the 17 audits to be conducted by his department follow citizen complaints and should be completed by mid-January.

The schools are all in the French system, with 11 in and around Montreal, three in Quebec City, one in Gatineau and two in the Saguenay region north of the capital.

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In the meantime, the government has written to all school service centres in Quebec — which in 2020 replaced French school boards in the province — to remind them of the obligations they have in terms of secularism and respect for religious neutrality.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 14, 2024.

The Canadian Press