For years, Christine Gingras fought to obtain redress for her daughter, who was bullied in a private school, and to prevent other parents from coming up against the same limits of the system. Today, she is pleased to have contributed to the establishment of new mechanisms that will better protect children from private life. And she wants to send a message: it’s worth fighting for.
“When you suffer an injustice, either you crash or you mobilize. We have chosen to mobilize. It was life-saving, ”says Christine Gingras with conviction. Her fight, which she led with three other mothers, was what allowed her to “get up in the morning”, a lifeline she clung to in order to make sense of injustice. “For us, it was not a burden, but a way to get through our days, because we lived the impacts of the ordeal on a daily basis. And making things evolve, it brings you a little balm every time. »
A ray of January sunshine illuminates the face of Christine Gingras, seated at the end of the dinner table. At his feet, his cat wallows on the huge filing cabinet that documents his quest.
Christine Gingras’ “obstacle course” began in 2014. Her daughter, who was then attending a private primary school that cannot be named for legal reasons, was the victim of bullying. “She was coming back [de l’école] very aggressive, it took me time to defuse it. And it ended in tears, because she evacuated it. She had nightmares, the nights were difficult. »
According to her, the school’s response was not satisfactory. “The situation was not improving, it even deteriorated. And it culminated in a mass physical assault. The next day, I had to take my daughter to the hospital because she was in shock and was making suicidal remarks. »
Who can help me ?
Throughout this entire period, Mr.me Gingras stopped working to take care of her daughter. She started asking about the mechanisms in place to protect victims of bullying. When her two children were expelled from school in connection with their mother’s actions, her son told her: “You shouldn’t have denounced. This became for her one more reason to fight: she wanted to “set a good example”, to make her children understand that it was important to denounce, that adults had the obligation to protect them.
She also wanted to understand where the system had failed. “I called everywhere, I asked: but who can help me? An anti-bullying plan had been announced with great fanfare a few years earlier, but everywhere I fell into a void. »
What she saw at the time as a process that would take a few months became a veritable “crusade” that stretched over more than seven years.
“As a parent, you take it for granted that the fundamental rights of your children will be protected. But one thing leading to another, we realized that there was no independent complaints mechanism for students attending private schools, as was the case with the student ombudsman. to the public. »
The new National Student Protector
Christine Gingras and the three other mothers called on the Ministry of Education, the Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission, the President of the Bar of Quebec, the Public Protector, the Federation of Private Education Institutions, the DYP. “In our furrow, many things have changed,” she says.
From 2017, they multiplied media interviews, held press conferences at the National Assembly alongside MP Jean-François Roberge, who was in opposition at the time, then with PQ MP Diane Lamarre. “The first interview I gave, I was shaking,” says Mme Gingras.
Their children participated in the drafting of a manifesto against bullying and were invited to the National Assembly of Quebec, where they were congratulated for their courage by the deputies. “It all helped give them the right educational message,” adds Ms.me Gingras.
In 2021, a settlement conference ended the lawsuit the four mothers had started against the school and the Department of Education.
But for M.me Gingras, the supreme victory was to hear the former Minister of Education Jean-François Roberge announce the creation of the position of national protector of the student. As of next September, it will be able to process complaints from all parents in Quebec, and not just those whose children attend public school.
A few months ago, she was invited to meet this new education ombudsman. She sees it as a “beautiful recognition” of the work she has done with the three other mothers.
A legacy for the future
“Now there are independent mechanisms, it’s a bit like the gift we bequeath,” says Ms.me Gingras, who invites parents to take advantage of it. Sometimes we take things for granted, but we have to remember that behind this there was hard work and a lot of suffering on the part of children who were victims of bullying. And this suffering has left its mark.
The journey of her daughter, now a young adult, was affected by these events, which occurred at an age when she was in full development. “The part that what she went through wasn’t her fault, I think that’s built in. But all the time it took for institutions to evolve and for there to be change, she was getting old. For us, it was a race against time. I regret that she couldn’t hear the repair messages when it would have had a greater impact. »
As a parent, you take it for granted that the fundamental rights of your children will be protected
Today, Christine Gingras has the feeling of accomplishment and she is ready to pass the torch. But her eyes still shine with the desire to make things change, and she can’t help but launch into a long tirade about how much there is left to do.
She reaches out to the new Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, to do more prevention. In particular, she would like all primary school children to be able to have training in their fundamental rights, training that her own children have undergone at the D Foundation.r Julian. She would also like there to be support for young people who have been bullied, help for them to heal from their wounds. “Damaged children, how do we repair them? she asks with a sigh.