Quebec Premier François Legault mentioned Friday afternoon that he desires to ban praying in public and that he was contemplating utilizing the however clause to take action.
The premier was giving an summary of the previous 12 months in Quebec Metropolis earlier than lawmakers break till January when he made the announcement. He mentioned he had instructed his workforce to look into methods to place the ban in place.
“Seeing folks praying within the streets, in public parks, is just not one thing we would like in Quebec,” Legault mentioned.
His feedback, a departure from the opposite matters within the overview, got here after a report in La Presse described religious behaviour at Saint-Maxime school in Laval, Que., which included prayer inside school rooms. It additionally reported lecturers speaking amongst themselves and with college students in Arabic.
“We’ve seen lecturers implementing Islamist non secular ideas in faculties. Lecturers who forbid ladies from enjoying sports activities, amongst different issues. Lecturers, we see it once more this morning, in Laval, who say prayers within the school rooms of our faculties,” Legault mentioned.
“Once we wish to pray, we go to a church, we go to a mosque, however not in public locations. And sure, we’ll have a look at the means the place we will act legally or in any other case.”
Requested by journalists in regards to the authorized and constitutional repercussions of such a measure, the premier mentioned he was not ruling out utilizing the however clause, which his government has already used twice to push payments into legislation.
“Right this moment I wish to ship a really clear message to the Islamists,” Legault mentioned. “We are going to combat, and we’ll by no means, by no means settle for that folks attempt to not respect the values which can be elementary to Quebec.”
The varsity service centre overseeing the Saint-Maxime college mentioned it had launched an investigation into the allegations reported by La Presse.
“We are going to unravel issues and if corrective motion should be taken, it is going to be performed diligently,” mentioned Yves Michel Volcy, the service centre’s director, in a press release.
The service centre confirmed that “administration of the Saint-Maxime college has already needed to intervene prior to now to make sure that the ideas of secularism are revered.”
Minister desires legislation to ‘strengthen secularism’ in faculties
Quebec Training Minister Bernard Drainville additionally reacted to the newspaper report Friday, saying the federal government intends to introduce new laws to “strengthen secularism in our faculty system.”
Drainville mentioned he had no particulars of what could be within the new laws and requested reporters on the Nationwide Meeting to “be affected person.”
The minister, too, had scathing phrases for the allegations reported in La Presse.
“That is not our Quebec,” he mentioned. “College students praying within the classroom, whereas class is in session, with the lecturers there. Hallways used as prayer areas, in contravention of the directive in opposition to prayer in faculties … heckling throughout intercourse training … that is not our Quebec.”
Quebec’s Training Ministry introduced in November that it was monitoring 17 faculties for attainable violations of the province’s secularism legislation. That announcement got here after a 90-page authorities report highlighted an allegedly poisonous atmosphere for lecturers and college students at Bedford elementary college in Montreal’s Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood.
Eleven lecturers at that faculty have been suspended after an investigation.
Jean-François Roberge, the minister accountable for laicity — sometimes called secularism — mentioned Friday that the incidents involving faith which can be being reported within the province’s faculties are indicative of what he described as a wider drawback.
“What we see within the faculties looks like the tip of the iceberg,” he mentioned. “It is a manifestation of a deeper drawback the place we see folks, and establishments, which can be deliberately attempting to affect issues, attempting to have non secular concerns put in our establishments which can be considerably incompatible with the notion of state secularism.”
The report into Bedford and the next studies of incidents at different faculties have drawn the eye of provincial politicians.
On Friday, opposition events echoed the minister’s concern in regards to the affect of faith inside Quebec faculties.
Each interim Liberal Occasion Chief Marc Tanguay and Québec Solidaire co-spokesperson Ruba Ghazal mentioned they have been open to new laws, or an modification to the present secularism legislation, referred to as Invoice 21.
The controversy at Bedford elementary college in Montreal is reviving some acquainted political debates in Quebec, together with whether or not the federal government ought to be funding personal non secular faculties within the province.
Ghazal mentioned her social gathering would love the federal government to give attention to equitable disparities contained in the province’s college system, which she described as the foundation of the issue.
“The federal government tells us, no the issue is secularism, and we will reinforce the legislation. We’re open to that, however we wish to see what they current,” she mentioned.
In the meantime, Parti Québécois Chief Paul St-Pierre Plamondon mentioned there was an “Islamist infiltration” going down within the province’s faculties. He mentioned there’s a backlash to Invoice 21 that he says has positioned a chill on some Quebecers and made them unwilling to talk out in the event that they see non secular behaviour in a public establishment for concern of showing racist.
“It isn’t a query of Christian Quebecers or secular Quebecers in opposition to Muslim Quebecers,” he mentioned. “We’re all on this collectively looking for a mannequin in our faculties that respects everybody and does not embrace non secular components.”
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