For Liberal MP Marwah Rizqy, the story of the Bedford School in Montreal and the group of teachers who imposed a toxic climate there for years simply does not pass muster.
• Also read: Students humiliated and sent to the wall: 11 teachers will be investigated for toxic climate and incompetence
• Also read: Toxic climate at Bedford school: “The battle for secularism” is not over, says Bernard Drainville
In interview at TVA News, the spokesperson for the Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ) on education criticized the work of the school service center, which tried to cover up the affair even when Mme Rizqy asked questions in the National Assembly about what was happening in Montreal’s primary school.
“I received a nice email from the school service center addressed to me, but copied to my colleagues, just to intimidate me a little, telling me that basically, well, what I do, well, it’s not good because it has profoundly harmful impacts on the school and the school staff who are highly upset because of me,” says the elected official.
“And she, at the start, seemed to be telling me that everything was going to be beautiful, that it was old news. I said: “Mme Gélinas, the chair you are currently occupying in my office, a week ago, there was a teacher sitting on that chair who was crying, telling me stories,” adds- She.
Marwah Rizqy then asked the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, to launch an investigation.
“Bernard, at the beginning, he said to me, “Marwah, I’m told that things have changed”. [Je lui ai répondu:] “Bernard, we’re in the process of filling you in,” mentions the Liberal MP.
Screenshot TVA News
She still salutes the work of Bernard Drainville in this matter.
“I want to say thank you to Bernard, because when I said to Bernard: “You are being filled in, I am sending you a request for an investigation, trigger the investigation”, he really took that seriously. And that, I want to say, it is not all the ministers who will decide to listen and say: “Ok, we are launching an investigation”,” underlines Mme Rizqy.
The latter, however, is much less kind towards the school service center which oversees the Bedford school.
“In this story, there are several adults who have not worn their pants and who have completely forgotten the interests of the children. There, it was more important to spin to say everything is fine, move on to the next things, circulate old stories,” says the politician.
“Worse, there are even some who have said that [ce que je véhicule]it’s racism. Hello everyone, I am of Moroccan origin. Don’t tell me I’m racist,” she adds.
Marwah Rizqy also wants to highlight the courage of the teachers of North African origin at the Bedford school who denounced the situation. She also has a thought for those who left school because they were exhausted from fighting.
The elected official cannot explain why teachers could be tolerated shouting at students and forbidding a professional to intervene just because she was a woman.
Gender equality is essential in Quebec, recalls the member for Saint-Laurent.
“If you do not respect this fundamental and cardinal principle in our Quebec society, in the Quebec nation, your place is not in our schools,” she proclaims.
Inaction
The Liberal education spokesperson deplores that the new director of the school service center did not react to the tabling of the report from the Ministry of Education.
“We paid tens of thousands of dollars to have professionals who investigated, who produced a report which called for the dismantling of the hard core. She, the new director, takes this report and says: “We are starting on new bases.” We forget the report, we start from scratch,” she proclaims.
This inaction in the face of such a situation deeply shocks Marwah Rizqy.
“You can’t buy peace when it comes to fundamental principles […] Gender equality is non-negotiable. The best interests of the child are non-negotiable. That there is no proselytism in our schools is non-negotiable. I will be very clear, we cannot mix knowledge and belief in our schools. It’s simple,” insists the politician.
“There are children who have not had any science lessons. Hey! That, if that’s not obscurantism, I don’t know what is,” she adds.
The Liberal MP believes that the teachers concerned should be suspended with pay during the investigation. She also wants the students who have gone through the Bedford school over the last seven years to be found to check the educational follow-up and ensure that they have all the necessary tools.
“We failed these children. We really let go of these children,” says Mme Rizqy.
“This school should have had the best school team. And there, when we read that there were incompetent people teaching, why are they still in class? Find them, take them out, and we will find the best teachers for them,” she adds.
To see the full interview, watch the video above.
