“Effective teaching” pays off big for two TELUQ education professors. In addition to their teaching fees, Mario Richard and Steve Bissonnette have received, through their private company, hundreds of thousands of dollars in contracts and royalties from their university, school service centers (CSS ) of Quebec and the Ministry of Education.
New documents obtained by Duty show the extent of payments made to the Proxima Group, which belongs to professors Bissonnette and Richard.
The company notably obtained a $25,000 contract from the ministry for “consulting services” for the deployment of the specialized higher education diploma (DESS) in preschool and primary education. The contract lasted less than a month, from August 28 to September 25, 2023. The DESS in question is one of the “fast routes” to the teaching profession whose merits are often praised by the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville. in a context of labor shortage.
Granted by mutual agreement, the contract “was awarded to Proxima based on the expertise held by the latter”, in compliance with the terms in force, affirmed Bryan St-Louis, head of press relations at the Ministry of Education. TELUQ, for its part, told the Duty that she did not have to be informed of this contract since it was “granted and executed while Professor Richard was in early retirement from TELUQ University”.
According to information available on the TELUQ website on Thursday, MM. Richard and Bissonnette are responsible for at least 3 of the 11 DESS courses.
A larger system
Duty has already reported certain income pocketed by the Proxima Group. He revealed in June that the company sells training courses in schools on a method that Professor Bissonnette is studying as part of his research work. This same professor was involved in a tender process that raises ethical and legal questions.
In July, Duty also wrote that Proxima received a royalty of $100 to $135 for each student enrolled in a course on effective teaching at TELUQ for which Mr. Richard is responsible.
Added to this are new contracts, including Duty obtained a copy under the Act respecting access to documents held by public bodies. These show that TELUQ also paid $10,000 to the Proxima Group in 2011 so that it could design this same course on effective teaching, which was followed by “thousands of teachers and school workers”.
“The amount of money paid to Proxima was to pay the fees of Mr. Bissonnette, who was then a professor at the University of Quebec in Outaouais and who acted as an associate professor for the development of the course,” explained the director of communications of TELUQ, Élisabeth Farinacci.
10% royalties
The new documents also reveal that TELUQ has agreed to pay a 10% “copyright royalty” to the Proxima Group each time CSS enrolls employees in its training on effective teaching.
For example, the Proxima Group receives $32.50 when the CSS de la Capitale enrolls an employee in two TELUQ training courses on effective teaching, sold for $325 each. This royalty system, in force from 2024, must continue until 2027.
This agreement contradicts past statements by TELUQ, which had stated to Duty no longer pay royalties to professors Bissonnette and Richard. Asked about its contradictions, TELUQ responded that “the training intended for the CSS de la Capitale is continuing education”, which is “not funded by the government”. “This area responds to different parameters,” wrote Mme Farinacci. She added that it is “clearly mentioned in the course presentation file […] that this training is developed within the framework of an agreement with the Proxima Group.
In an interview, Mr. Bissonnette clarified that continuing education is developed “outside university working hours”. “At that time, there are, for any professor, royalties, copyrights of around 10%,” he clarified.
Through agreements similar to that concluded at the CSS de la Capitale, his company received royalties of 10% when the Acadian school board and the CSS Marguerite-Bourgeoys et des Navigateurs registered participants in TELUQ training between 2019 and 2025.
Fees for master’s degree registrations
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, in April 2020, the Proxima Group also developed the “I teach remotely” course for TELUQ. The company then received $8,000 from the University.
The company also received, starting in 2021, $100 for each registration in six master’s programs in education, in two DESS and in a short TELUQ program in “teaching effectiveness”. The maximum payment amount is established in the contracts at $66,000 per year. “This agreement expired in January 2024,” said M.me Farinacci.
The communications director rejected the word “commission” to name the payments made to the Proxima Group. “The royalties paid over a period of 13 years to the Proxima Group have [été] under the same intellectual property principles as the royalties paid by the publisher of a manual or book used by students in the context of a course given by the professor who is the author. This is also a common practice in academia,” she said.
Questioned on this subject, the president of the Quebec Federation of University Professors, Madeleine Pastinelli, remained perplexed. “Personally, I have published two books and have a number of articles that have been read or reproduced, and I don’t remember ever receiving $100 a year in royalties,” he said. she said. To his knowledge, a “tiny minority” of professors succeed “in generating more appreciable income” thanks to copyright.
As a reminder, TELUQ paid more than $280,000 to Proxima over a period of 13 years. Generally speaking, “there is no privilege that was granted to Steve Bissonnette or Proxima [qui soit] different from what is possible for any other professor at TELUQ University,” Professor Bissonnette insisted in an interview.