Quebec suspends 11 teachers for promoting 'Islamist' beliefs at Montreal public school

Eleven teachers in Quebec have been suspended for promoting what Premier François Legault referred to as "Islamist religious concepts" at a Montreal public school.The now-former faculty members of Bedford Elementary included a mixture of men and women and many were of North-African descent..According to a report conducted by the government, the teachers in question were said to have been influenced by a nearby mosque and used their positions of authority to enact physical and psychological violence on students. They allegedly refused to allow special needs assistants into their classrooms, and denied the existence of disabilities, opting instead to try and "break" such students to set them on the "right path." Very little teaching of the actual curriculum took place, with science and sex education taking a back seat to religious doctrine.."Like many of you, I was very shocked by what happened at Bedford School," Legault wrote in a post on X. "That religious concepts are introduced into a public school, that science is refused to help our children, that teachers form a clan and threaten other teachers in a public school in Quebec in 2024, it is beyond comprehension."He made it clear that "our first concern must be the children," and vowed to "clean up this school" conduct "audits in other schools where similar problems are suspected." "I have asked the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, and the Minister of Secularism, Jean-François Roberge, to look at what we can do as a government to strengthen controls and secularism in schools and to ensure that we prevent these situations," Legault continued. "There is something very disturbing in this case, it is this attempt by a group of teachers to introduce Islamist religious concepts into a public school. In Quebec, we decided a long time ago to remove religion from public schools. We will never accept going back."He called on all Quebecers to "denounce these situations without fear of bullies" and "defend the choice of secularism in our public institutions."At a press conference, Drainville elaborated on some of the "religious behaviours" that took place at the school, including a teacher who began "praying before a student who collapsed in the classroom," and girls being "forbidden to play soccer.""According to the members of the committee, there is an issue with the respect of the law on secularism," Drainville added, "and therefore we have a responsibility to look into what could be done to strengthen this law in relation to Bedford and possibly in relation to other schools in Quebec."