When the Ministry of Education was offered to him, MP Bernard Drainville knew he would dive head first into tough issues such as academic success, staff shortages or students in difficulty. But he probably had no idea that a series of shocking revelations concerning allegations of sexual violence in primary and secondary schools, which are presumed to have been committed by teachers and students, would monopolize him so much. The subject is of such seriousness and the shortcomings of the system, so significant that this dossier requires vigorous action, including the filing of a framework law.
The media are constantly bringing to light stories to revolt the parents of students: here and there, in their school where they were believed to be sheltered from everything, students were under the guidance of teachers at profile of sexual aggressors, perpetuating their misconduct and questionable behavior from one school to another, with complete impunity. The duty revealed two such sordid stories last week. One depicts a secondary school teacher pointed out, but never accused, for his actions denounced by students and colleagues; the other reveals the apparent impotence of an entire school system in the face of the misbehavior of a little boy towards his school friends from primary school on. The acts continued in high school, until leading to accusations which he is now the subject of.
These stories share not only a form of abuse of power and sexual violence with victims, but also the resounding failure of the village supposed to gather around the education of a child. Wherever the media have gone, the common thread is the same: people knew, but said nothing; people tried to speak, but were met with the negligence of the leaders; people have succeeded in penetrating the opacity of the system, but their efforts ended in failure, the system admitting defeat.
In the case of Mr. P, this teacher pointed out by ex-students and ex-colleagues for behaviors that caused great discomfort in the young girls who suffered them, the inability of the system to act was such that the professor worked in… three different schools, without his file being able to be transmitted from one school service center to another, as required by the rules for the protection of confidentiality. The case of Corey, the fictitious name given to this student who perpetrated behavior from elementary to high school, which has now earned him 11 counts, is just as disturbing. Despite denunciations from parents in elementary school, the system failed and was unable to protect either Corey, who presumably did not benefit from the best supervision, or the children to whom he subjected his inappropriate behavior.
For several months, groups such as the La voix des jeunes compte collective and the opposition to the National Assembly have been wrestling with the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, to convince him that a framework law is necessary. They are absolutely right. The government of François Legault has not skimped on the means since the denunciations of sexual misconduct in primary and secondary schools have multiplied: it has launched a general inquiry into sexual violence in schools in Quebec; he tabled the robust Bill 23, one of the keys to which is to improve the accountability of school service centres; he launched a whistleblower hotline; and it relies on the forthcoming entry into office of the National Student Ombudsman to improve the whistleblowing and complaint handling process. It’s not nothing, but it’s not enough.
If the government is serious in its desire to plug the breaches in its sieve system, it must give itself the legislative and regulatory means to do so. A framework law has existed since 2017 to better regulate higher education, which has had its share of denunciations for sexual misconduct. The law acts on prevention, awareness, accountability and support for people. It obliges educational institutions to formulate a policy that must provide for everything in terms of, for example, the leaders, their role in the intervention and the timeframes that are to be expected to promote a settlement.
What has shocked in the files brought to light by journalists in recent times is directly aimed at the question of impunity. One almost comes to wonder if, in a universe where the rights of some rub shoulders with those of their counterparts, the aggressors are not better protected than their victims, in particular because of the confidentiality of the files. If the government is serious in its intention to better regulate sexual misconduct, which should never occur at school, it should work immediately on a framework law intended for primary and secondary schools to provide an insurmountable fortress.