The Legault government is calling schools to order: religion classes are not permitted on the premises of public schools, even in the evenings and on weekends.
“This should not be allowed, so we will make sure that it does not happen again,” the Prime Minister declared Thursday.
The Journal revealed that Islamic values have been taught on weekends for years in a Montreal public school. Every Saturday, dozens of children receive Islamic education offered by Arab schools of Montreal in the premises of La Voie secondary school, located in the Côte-des-Neiges borough.
A practice which contravenes Bernard Drainville’s directive prohibiting prayers and religious practices in schools.
The Minister of Education called schools to order on Thursday. “In public schools, there should be no prayers or activities of a religious nature,” he warned.
Bernard Drainville also specified that the Montreal School Services Center (CSSDM) was going to end the room rental contract with the Arab Schools of Montreal, which comes under the Canadian Muslim Association of Canada.
“There are checks underway because it is indeed possible that there are other schools which are concerned. CSSDM schools will be subject to an audit,” he insisted.
According to the minister, certain practices have been tolerated for too many years and should not have been.
“Public schools are not places of prayer, all the time, day, evening, weekend,” he added. I expect that the directive will be respected in all public schools in Quebec.
Bernard Drainville and his colleague Minister Jean-François Roberge were mandated by their leader to strengthen secularism in the school network. Already, 17 establishments are the subject of audits for breaches of the Secularism Act reported since the revelations concerning Bedford primary school.
Already, the Minister of Education says he is ready, if necessary, to strengthen his directive banning prayer and religious activities on the premises of public institutions.
Bernard Drainville and Jean-François Roberge will later tackle the place of religion in private establishments. For the moment, their government has no plans to cut state subsidies to private religious schools. François Legault recently came to the defense of these institutions, several of which are of Catholic heritage, and which are 60% financed by the public treasury.
