Quebec Solidaire calls for an end to funding for religious schools

Quebec Solidaire MNA Ruba Ghazal tabled a motion that Quebec suspend all funding for religious schools in the province. (Jacques Boissinot / The Canadian Press)

As the case of the Bedford school, where teachers created a climate of terror, has brought the debate on secularism to the fore, Quebec Solidaire (QS) is joining the Parti Québécois (PQ) in calling for an end to the funding of religious schools in the province.

“If we want to be consistent with the idea of secularism, we should not be funding any private denominational schools with public money,” said QS MNA Ruba Ghazal at a news briefing on Wednesday at the National Assembly.

According to the QS MNA, “we give more than $200 million a year to some 50 denominational schools.”

Earlier this week, the PQ leader, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, said that the Bedford case was one of “Islamist invasion” and made a series of suggestions to the government to strengthen secularism in Quebec.

In particular, he called for an end to subsidies for religious schools.

St-Pierre Plamondon brought the subject back to the Salon Rouge on Wednesday by questioning Premier François Legault. The latter avoided answering. Instead, he talked about the PQ leader's change of position on secularism.

Ghazal tabled a motion calling on the Quebec government to consider ending public funding for private denominational schools, but it was rejected by the Coalition Avenir Québec.

On Sunday's “Tout le monde en parle” program, Education Minister Bernard Drainville said that his government did not want to end funding for religious schools “for the time being,” but did not close the door definitively.

On Tuesday, in the wake of a devastating report on the Bedford school, Legault mandated Drainville and the Minister for Secularism, Jean-François Roberge, “to examine all options” for “reinforcing controls and secularism in schools.”

Religious practices

The report on Bedford School mentions “some religious practices, such as prayers in classrooms or ablutions in communal toilets.”

It states that, although “most of these practices were not carried out in front of pupils,” the evidence analyzed mentions “two events where pupils were allegedly involved in religious practices.”

It also states that “witnesses told the investigators that they had observed a strong influence from the community on several members of staff at Bedford School. A number of them were said to frequent a community centre and a mosque in the neighbourhood.”

The report mentions, however, that “although the majority clan is mainly made up of people of North African origin, people of other origins are also associated with it. The minority clan is also partly made up of people of North African origin, including some of the strongest opponents of the majority clan.”

It goes on to say that “although there are indeed clans at Bedford School made up of individuals of different origins, the investigators mainly observed opposition between ideologies.”

The document also mentions “gaps in the teaching of oral communication, science and technology, ethics and religious culture and sexuality education.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Oct. 23, 2024.