Sexual assault on a premises: she will finally be able to change schools

It took a year and a half to publish an article in The Journal and the intervention of the Minister of Education so that Alexia*, 14, can finally leave the school where she was sexually assaulted.

“I can’t wait, but I’m a little stressed,” says Alexia (not her real name), about starting her new high school.

“I’m especially afraid of getting lost,” admits the young girl with a nervous laugh on the line.

Next Monday, she will finally be able to start from scratch. She will no longer have to pass day after day in front of the Havre-Jeunesse school in Sainte-Julienne where she was sexually assaulted by another student at the age of 12.

A little over a week ago, The Journal had published the aberrant story of this teenager, now 14, who has been bullied by her peers since reporting her alleged attacker to the police.

Wishing to change schools, her mother has encountered repeated refusals from the school bureaucracy since March 2023.

“Laxity”

A few days after the article was published, Alexia and her mother were summoned to the old school to discuss the transfer, which was ultimately granted with school transportation. On Thursday, they met the staff of the new school and went to collect the diary and the list of school items.

“It’s not normal that we have to call the media [pour que les choses bougent]», indignant Alexia’s worker at Compensation for Victims of Criminal Acts (IVAC), who cannot be named without identifying the young girl by the band.

For her, this illustrates the “laxity” of the school system in cases of violence.

“And [le transfert] had been done earlier, Alexia would be less destroyed than she is today.

Political intervention

“The minister [de l’Éducation] was moved by the story of this young student,” says Antoine de la Durantaye, press officer for Bernard Drainville.

Quickly, Mr. Drainville asked that the Samares School Service Center (CSS) be contacted.

This is the same CSS as in the case of the father from Berthierville who attacked his boy’s bully in February and the young girl who was beaten after school in Joliette in March.

“I was so shocked. With my team, we said to ourselves: it can’t be,” said solidarity MP Ruba Ghazal.

“Clearly, there is something wrong. There must be intervention in this CSS,” adds the elected official, who is campaigning for a framework law to be introduced to combat sexual violence at school.

She also asked a question to the National Assembly on Alexia’s case on September 18.

In the absence of Bernard Drainville that day, Minister Isabelle Charest responded that the National Student Ombudsman was going to treat this student’s file as a priority.

* Fictitious name to protect the girl’s identity