Quebec teacher screaming at first-graders draws attention of premier

Quebec Premier Francois Legault at the legislature in Quebec City, Tuesday, April 25, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

A recording of a Quebec teacher shouting at her first-grade students has come to the attention of Premier François Legault.

"It's appalling what you hear on the tape," Legault said at a press conference in Quebec City on Tuesday. Education Minister Bernard Drainville, who was also present, said he was "shaken" by the recording and described it as a "horror" as both a minister and a father of three.

The incident occurred at École des Grands-Vents in Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac, an off-island suburb near Montreal. The teacher has been suspended, and investigations have been launched by the Deux-Montagnes police department and the Centre de services scolaires des Mille-Îles.

"It's completely unacceptable for children to be treated like that, it's completely unacceptable," Legault said, expressing disbelief.

'IT'S A HORROR'

Earlier, Drainville made no secret that he was shaken by the recording of the teacher yelling at her first-grade students.

"Honestly, it's a horror when I hear that. It's horror as a minister, and then it's horror as a father of three," said Drainville.

Drainville said that a general investigation mandate, which covers any inappropriate behaviour that puts the psychological safety of children at risk, applies in this case.

He also noted that the teacher should not have been in the classroom and that "certainly in her condition she was in no position to teach children."

PSYCHOLOGICAL SUPPORT

Psychological support has been offered not only to the children in the class and their parents but to all children and parents in the school, according to Drainville.

"Honestly, I can understand as a parent that these parents are in shock, that they fear that their child has been marked by this," he said. "More and more, in cases involving the management of service centres, the director general, the directors and the principals must speak out. It is their responsibility. It is even in the law."

He emphasized that school service centres are also accountable and that directors should make themselves available to the media as spokespersons for their centres.

The teacher's tapes, broadcast Monday by QUB radio, sparked outrage across the province.