How a Montreal school reignited a debate over secularism and Bill 21 in Quebec

An probe into a clime of fearfulness astatine a Montreal primary schoolhouse has reignited a statement astir secularism successful Quebec’s acquisition system, with the provincial authorities pledging to see caller measures to support religion retired of classrooms.

Quebec’s acquisition curate says the province’s secularism law, known arsenic Bill 21, was not being respected astatine the schoolhouse and could beryllium strengthened. His comments travel a study released earlier this period that recovered a radical of teachers astatine Bedford school, galore of North African descent, subjected children to carnal and intelligence violence.

The contented has dominated Quebec headlines this week, aft the absorption Parti Québécois labelled it “a lawsuit of Islamist infiltration” into the nationalist schoolhouse system, with the Coalition Avenir Québec authorities rapidly pursuing suit.

But critics accidental the absorption connected religion is simply a reddish herring that distracts from the information authorities fto the concern astatine Bedford proceed for years without taking action.

On Tuesday, Quebec Premier François Legault made his archetypal comments connected the matter successful a societal media post, saying helium was “very shocked” by the “attempt by a radical of teachers to present Islamist spiritual concepts into a nationalist school.”

It was a displacement successful code for his government, which had antecedently avoided linking the concern astatine Bedford to religion.

The Education Department released its study connected Bedford schoolhouse connected Oct. 11, the effect of an probe triggered by reporting past twelvemonth from a Montreal radio station, which documented however a ascendant clan of teachers imposed autocratic regularisation astatine the school.

The study recovered that teachers yelled astatine and humiliated students, and that immoderate teachers didn’t judge successful learning disabilities and attributed students’ difficulties to laziness. Subjects similar subject and enactment acquisition were either ignored oregon hardly taught, and girls were prevented from playing soccer.

The probe revealed that astir members of the ascendant faction were of North African descent, and that teachers were influenced by the section mosque. But it besides pointed retired that immoderate teachers of North African practice opposed the ascendant clan, and the study characterized the concern arsenic a clash of ideology alternatively than culture.

Eleven teachers astatine the schoolhouse were suspended with wage implicit the weekend. On Tuesday, Education Minister Bernard Drainville said the teachers — a premix of men and women — person had their teaching licences suspended pending the result of disciplinary investigations.

In an quality connected fashionable Quebec speech amusement “Tout le monde en parle” connected Sunday, much than a week aft the report’s release, Drainville chose his words carefully, saying it was important not to stigmatize teachers of North African descent.

“Before saying that determination is an contented of secularism oregon that determination is an effort by a spiritual question to privation to instrumentality power of 1 oregon much schools in Montreal, I person to beryllium careful,” helium said.

This week, that code changed. On Monday, Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon came retired swinging, claiming determination is simply a occupation of “religious and ideological infiltration” successful Quebec schools.

On Tuesday, Legault announced that he’d asked Drainville and Secularism Minister Jean-François Roberge “to look astatine what we tin bash arsenic a authorities to fortify controls and secularism successful schools.”

Drainville told reporters the authorities has “a work to look into what could beryllium done to fortify (Bill 21) successful narration to Bedford and perchance successful narration to different schools successful Quebec.”

Investigations are underway astatine 3 other Montreal schools. On Wednesday, Drainville said helium was looking into a 5th schoolhouse pursuing the work of a quality study astir parents of North African root who person decided to region their kid from the schoolhouse implicit concerns astir Muslim spiritual indoctrination.

Trending Now

But Louis-Philippe Lampron, a prof of quality rights astatine Université Laval, said the authorities is utilizing secularism arsenic a smokescreen to distract from different issues. Teachers were forbidden from imposing their spiritual beliefs successful classrooms good earlier the transition of Bill 21 successful 2019, Lampron said, and the authorities already has “all the tools” it needs to woody with specified matters.

The 2019 instrumentality banned teachers and different nationalist assemblage workers from wearing spiritual symbols successful the workplace.

The existent scandal, Lampron said, is that the problems astatine Bedford schoolhouse persisted for respective years earlier the government’s investigation. “It’s a concern that’s gone connected acold excessively long,” helium said. “Let’s telephone a spade a spade.”

Lampron said this week’s statement reminds him of Quebec’s tenable accommodation situation astir 20 years ago, which was fuelled by nationalist anxiousness astir number groups. That situation was driven successful portion by respective incidents that received wide media coverage, including accommodation for Muslim prayers astatine a accepted sweetener shack, and a codification of behaviour for immigrants published successful the hamlet of Hérouxville that was wide derided arsenic Islamophobic.

A nationalist committee struck to analyse the contented recovered successful 2008 that determination was nary existent occupation concerning the accommodation of minorities successful Quebec, but Lampron said the taxable remains “extremely politically sensitive.”

Tensions astir the Bedford schoolhouse study are moving precocious this week. On Tuesday, Liberal subordinate Marwah Rizqy, who has been speaking retired astir the schoolhouse since past year, said she had requested constabulary extortion and feared for her safety. Earlier successful the week, arguable imam Adil Charkaoui publically accused Rizqy of exaggerating the problems astatine the school.

Samaa Elibyari, co-president of the Montreal chapter of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women, said it’s unfair to usage Bedford schoolhouse to substance a broader statement astir secularism.

“The content I get is that determination is simply a deficiency astatine the basal of it. Those teachers, they are not good trained, they are not good adjusted, and this reflects of people successful the ways of teaching,” she said. “I don’t spot astatine each wherever religion comes in.”