The National Assembly unanimously adopted Bill 47 on Tuesday aimed at strengthening the protection of students.
The new law must in particular serve to close the loopholes which allow teachers to move from one position to another without their disciplinary files following them.
It will require school staff, both public and private, to report to the minister any “behavior that could reasonably cause fear for the physical or psychological safety of students”.
Reprehensible actions will remain on the employee’s file. They will not be able, under amnesty clauses, to disappear after a few months or a few years, as is currently the case.
“The first priority is the safety of our children,” said the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, in a press release. We are choosing to add strong preventive measures to better protect them. »
Bill 47 was tabled on December 6 following an investigation report into sexual misconduct and inappropriate behavior in schools.
The report demonstrated that schools were poorly equipped to deal with these situations.
“It is not normal that a teacher can commit acts of a sexual nature with complete impunity and move from one service center to another or from one school to another without consequences,” declared Mr. .Drainville.
Bill 47 was improved during its study in parliamentary committee; in particular, measures have been added to protect people who file a complaint or report against reprisals.
This was a request from school administrators, who also demanded — and obtained — that the bill be expanded to include adult students with disabilities.
For their part, teaching unions had stressed that the expression “could reasonably cause fear for the physical or psychological safety of students” was far too broad.
Reprehensible behavior will eventually be better defined, Mr. Drainville’s communications director, Antoine de la Durantaye, told The Canadian Press.
He explained in a message that the new law will modify the existing guide on criminal records, “in order to further help the network to determine the targeted behaviors”.