17 schools under Quebec's watch for possible violations of secularism law

Quebec's Education Ministry is monitoring 17 schools for possible violations of the province's secularism law.

According to a statement from the ministry, it is sending auditors to those schools to monitor them between today and mid-January.

In its statement Thursday morning, the Education Ministry said it received several complaints and reports regarding violations of the secularism law, which is commonly referred to as Bill 21.

The ministry says the information it received pertains to the secularism law's "four principles": the separation of the state and religions, religious neutrality, equality, and the freedom of conscience and religion.

"The mandates for these auditors are necessary to protect our students. Schools exist for them. Their safety and wellbeing have to be our top priorities," Drainville said in a statement. 

"We cannot let people with unacceptable behaviours or motives based on ideologies or personal beliefs enter our schools."

Last month, Premier François Legault announced his government would try to find ways to better enforce secularism in schools.

The decision came in the midst of a controversy involving Bedford elementary school, which is located in Montreal's Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood. The school was the subject of a 90-page government report looking into the conduct of teachers accused of creating a toxic environment for both students and staff. 

Those teachers, 11 in total, were suspended and had their teaching licences suspended as well.

The government report looked their competence level, the effects of their behaviour on students and staff, and the role religion may have played in their behaviour and the tensions at the school. 

Most of those teachers were, according to the report, of Maghrebi origin. The report also states that staff from other backgrounds were also part of the problematic group — and that staff from Maghrebi origin were also part of an opposing group denouncing their colleagues. 

Its recommendations mainly focused on making sure teachers were competent enough to work in the school and improving the school service centre's ability to monitor the situation.

The report also mentioned situations where teachers took part in religious practices, like prayer or ablutions, though it found that these were mostly done away from students and on the teachers' own time.

On Oct. 22, well after the government report had been made public, Education Minister Bernard Drainville said an investigative committee told him it had enough evidence to suggest that the province's secularism law was not being properly enforced.