A tourist keen on education passing through Quebec might wonder why toilets occupy such a space in the educational debate. We couldn’t blame him: since last September, we are in our second “chapter” of the saga of mixed toilets at school. Last week, Education Minister Bernard Drainville banned mixed toilets in schools.
The statement followed publication in the Official Gazette of a Directive prohibiting mixed toilets and changing rooms in school construction or renovation projects. The government decree, however, provides that school service centers must install individual and universal toilets for those who need them.
During the last school year, a decision by the Iberville secondary school, located in Rouyn-Noranda, heated things up in the National Assembly and forced Mr. Drainville to reveal his preference for single-sex toilets. He had invoked the vital need for a space of privacy for girls and boys. In the background, critics of the Minister of Education’s untimely statements argued that it was better not to fuel prejudices and stigmas against trans and non-binary people, indirectly targeted in this debate.
What does this new episode of the toilet epic teach us? First, that the calls for nuance and fact-based decisions launched this fall were not in the least heeded. It was underlined that the Minister of Education took into account neither a guide designed in 2021 for schools on taking into account gender and sexual diversity nor the recommendation owed to him formulate a Committee of Wise Men on gender identity on the issue. This fall, Mr. Drainville claimed to base his opinion on his “expertise in intimacy”. This time, he hopes that, when the Committee of Wise Men gives its opinion, they “will not arrive at the opposite conclusion”. That does not make any sense.
This type of ultra-centralizing governance fueled by convictions and beliefs clashes with the spirit of what Minister Drainville says he wants to put in place. Is his idea of a National Institute of Excellence in Education basing orientations and decision-making on evidence and best practices not in total contradiction with the demonstrations of impulsive direction that he gives in certain files? ? No, that’s not reassuring.
This text is part of our Opinion section. This is an editorial and, as such, it reflects the values and position of the Duty as defined by its director in collaboration with the editorial team.
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