A Montreal elementary school is at the centre of a secularism debate. Here's how we got here
Provincial politicians accused of pouncing on religion for political gain
In the last few weeks, an elementary school in Montreal's west-central Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood has been mired in controversy.
This past weekend, 11 teachers were suspended for allegedly creating a toxic environment for students and staff that goes back to 2016. On Tuesday, their teaching licences were also suspended.
The allegations are the subject of a 90-page government report.
Since the suspensions were announced, many provincial politicians have weighed in on the issue, including the premier of Quebec. The conversation about the safety and well-being of students has evolved into a wider discussion about religion in public institutions and the province's secularism law, commonly referred to as Bill 21.
Here's a look at how we got here and how the tone shifted in just a matter of days.
Government steps in
Bedford elementary school is part of the Centre de services scolaire de Montréal (CSSDM), the largest school service centre in the province that runs many of Montreal's French public schools.
The conversation around Bedford may seem recent, but Quebec radio station 98.5 fm has been covering the story since last year. The station's news coverage — and calls from Liberal MNA Marwah Rizqy for the government to step in — played a major role in sparking the Education Ministry's report, which was made public earlier this month.
The report describes a series of radio news items from 98.5 FM that outline a long list of issues with how these teachers allegedly behaved. They include reports of teachers screaming at students, punishing them in humiliating fashion, treating them differently depending on their gender and preventing resource staff from helping students with learning difficulties.
The allegations raised questions about the teachers' competence and the psychological safety of students there.
The ministry's investigation was conducted between Nov. 16, 2023, and April 19, 2024, and included 73 interviews with witnesses.
According to the report, the 98.5 FM journalist who reported extensively on Bedford spoke to 18 people with ties to the school.
What does the report say?
The Education Ministry's report makes constant references to 98.5 FM's radio columns.
The report found that "overall, and based on the evidence collected, the investigation was able to confirm the allegations mentioned in the radio reports that aired on 98.5 FM."
The report mentions that the teachers punished students with learning disabilities and referred to them as "lazy," simply because they didn't recognize those disabilities as legitimate. They're also alleged to have prevented support staff from entering classrooms.
"Some of them even went as far as hindering surveillance of their classrooms by covering class door windows or interior windows in classrooms that have them," the report reads.
The report also gathered testimony from people who say certain subjects like sex education and science are neither not taught or sparingly taught to students.
There are 11 recommendations in total that centre on the following key findings:
- The teachers' competence level is "worrisome."
- The situation at the school hasn't improved and the CSSDM lost control of the situation.
- The CSSDM struggles with follow-ups.
- Certain teachers try to avoid being evaluated or monitored.
But there are several instances where the investigation's findings differ from what was reported in the media, including situations that have to do with culture and religion.
For example, the report states that the news coverage on Bedford alluded to teachers were taking part in "religious practices" inside classrooms.
"However, for the most part, these weren't done in front of students, but rather on the teachers' own time," the report reads.
Religion and culture
The initial story from 98.5 FM describes tension between Muslim and non-Muslim teachers at Bedford.
According to the Education Ministry's report, last year's news coverage paints the picture of a "dominant clan" made up of teachers of Maghrebi origin clashing with a smaller group of teachers and staff of "various origins."
But the report says the situation is not as clear-cut.
"It is important to emphasize that although the majority clan is mainly composed of people of Maghrebi origin, people of other origins are also associated with it," the report said. "The minority clan is also partly composed of individuals of Maghrebi origin, including some who are strongly opposing the majority clan."
The ministry's report says what was playing out in the school, based on the testimony it gathered, was more of a "clash of ideologies" rather than a cultural one.
It it also mentioned that there were tensions with members of a nearby community centre that mainly serves people of Arab origin and had a "strong influence" on school staff. It says people associated with the centre created a social media group where members criticized the school.
Some key details are unclear because it is one of the more heavily redacted sections of the report.
It also mentions an incident where someone "burst into the school" and shouted insults at a teacher before making their way to the school secretary's office — prompting a 911 call — but the person's identity is greyed out.
What are politicians saying now?
On Sunday evening, during an appearance on Tout le monde en parle, a widely viewed Radio-Canada program, Education Minister Bernard Drainville highlighted those findings and stressed the importance of not stigmatizing a specific cultural group.
He was also asked if the situation at Bedford proved that Bill 21, the province's secularism law, was flawed and difficult to enforce.
"No. Honestly, I don't think that it's difficult to apply it," Drainville said. "It's possible that there is a cultural or religious issue at play but the report doesn't say that."
But the tone from Drainville and his Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) party appears to have changed significantly since Sunday evening.
On Monday, Parti Québécois (PQ) Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said the situation at Bedford highlights the "problem of religion entering into our schools" and that existing laws, including Bill 21, aren't strong enough.
On Tuesday, Quebec Premier François Legault took to X to denounce the situation, describing the suspended teachers as a group attempting "to introduce Islamic religious concepts in a public school."
"In Quebec, we decided a long time ago to get religion out of public schools. We will never go back," the premier wrote.
He's asked Education Minister Bernard Drainville and Jean-François Roberge — a minister who wears many hats including immigration, the French language and secularism — to look into ways to make sure secularism is better enforced in public schools.
During a news conference Tuesday, the education minister was asked why the province is suddenly focusing on the issue of secularism. Drainville replied saying he's been told by the investigation committees that they've seen enough to conclude that secularism isn't properly enforced.
How are people reacting to these statements?
Muslim community leaders in Montreal have denounced how politicians, such as Legault, Drainville and St-Pierre Plamondon, are reigniting the debate about secularism in the province following the Bedford report.
They say politicians weaponize the idea of secularism against cultural communities, especially those who practise Islam, because of the religious garb worn by some of them.
"It's quite troubling to see that the government jumps at every small opportunity to find blame, to blame the Muslim community in some way or another," said Farida Mohamed, the co-president of the Montreal chapter of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women.
Chedly Belkhodja, a professor at Concordia University's School of Community and Public Affairs, says the statements from the CAQ and the PQ are basically "the same tune" that's been sung in the province for years when it comes to cultural identity.
"Nationalist groups are using some issues to promote a certain vision of identity in Quebec and it's always to the detriment of immigrant populations, mostly Muslims and people from North Africa," said Belkhodja.
"The CAQ and the PQ are in competition mode when it comes to attracting voters."
What's happening now at Bedford?
The Quebec government recently sent two employees to the school to monitor the situation. They're expected to draft an action plan by the end of November.
The teachers' suspensions came more than a week after the report was made public. Drainville says that's because investigation committees only provided those names to school service centre last week.
Rizqy, the Liberal MNA, has been adamant that Isabelle Gélinas, the service centre's executive director, failed the students. She scoffed at the idea that Gélinas only found out who the teachers were last week. She accused Gélinas of "willful blindness," given a 2021 report had already pointed to troubling allegations at the school, and has called for her to step down.
But Drainville has reiterated his trust in Gélinas on several occasions.
Three other schools with the CSSDM are being monitored by the provincial ministry for issues also related to a potentially toxic climate. Two of them are also in the Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood: Saint-Pascal-Baylon elementary school and La Voie high school.
The third one, Bienville elementary school, is in the northeastern Saint-Michel neighbourhood.
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With files from Cathy Senay, Paula Dayan-Perez and Radio-Canada