The confinements that have occurred in secondary schools in Matane and Laval in recent weeks have caused concern among parent committees who are wondering whether barricaded confinement exercises should not be made compulsory.
The subject came up during a meeting of the Federation of Parents’ Committees of Quebec (FCPQ) last Thursday.
“In recent years, what was happening in the United States was far from home. Here, it’s getting closer… we had parents’ concerns about whether it should be compulsory or not. This is a consultation that we will do with our members in the coming weeks,” explains the president of the FCPQ, Mélanie Laviolette.
The president of the Federation of Parents’ Committees of Quebec, Mélanie Laviolette, intends to survey her members regarding the holding of compulsory confinement exercises. PHOTO MARIE-LAURENCE DELAINEY/AGENCE QMI
MARIE-LAURENCE DELAINEY/AGENCE QMI
After the Dawson College shooting in 2006, the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) established the Response Plan for Safe Establishments (PRES), which provides for how to protect students and school staff from a threat in or near a school while the police secured the scene.
Less than one in five schools carry out lockdown exercises
Even if the SQ recommends that establishments do preventive exercises, the decision is up to them. In 2023, approximately 320 out of 1,692 schools in the SQ territory have held a practice.
Holding exercises has been debated in the past with parents fearing that it would generate anxiety, especially among primary school students. But exercises, when done well, can play an important role, says Sergeant Isabel Des Groseillers, provincial community policing coordinator at the Sûreté du Québec.
“If it’s [les confinements] again, they won’t know what to do and we will lose precious minutes which are super important. This is not a simulation. No screaming, no fears, no armed police, no role-playing. The aim of the practice is not to generate emotions, but rather reactions. If we do an exercise twice a year… it must become automatic.”
Sergeant Isabel Des Groseillers, provincial community policing coordinator at the Sûreté du Québec, recalls that barricaded confinement exercises can save precious minutes when the school is facing a threat. PHOTO MARIE-LAURENCE DELAINEY/AGENCE QMI
MARIE-LAURENCE DELAINEY/AGENCE QMI
A bear in the school?
To avoid a feeling of panic, some establishments organize exercises without students while others instead do role-playing exercises. A parent told the FCPQ that his child’s school had organized a “curious” exercise under the pretext that a bear had entered the school, which is located in an urban area.
More communication and standardization of the rules requested
The FCPQ would like us to communicate more and standardize ways of doing things.
“We are also bombarded with emails as school parents, I couldn’t even tell you that I received information myself on this subject concerning my children’s school. I know they do drills, but are they fire drills? Confinement? Do you see? It’s an example. It’s not clear,” relates the president of the FCPQ.
In addition to the exercises, even if many police forces were inspired by the SQ PRES, elements differ depending on the location.
Code black at school
On March 25, the Sainte-Thérèse high school confined the students to prevent them from going out and finding themselves within the perimeter of police officers who had intervened for a man barricaded near the establishment. PHOTO MARIE-LAURENCE DELAINEY/AGENCE QMI
MARIE-LAURENCE DELAINEY/AGENCE QMI
Unlike schools in the provincial police territory, some communicate, for example, with color codes. The QMI Agency learned that on March 25, the Sainte-Thérèse high school, in the Laurentians, was confined. Around 11 a.m., Karine Richard received a text from her secondary school boy saying simply: “code black”.
On March 25, Maxence Richard sent a text message simply saying “code black” to his mother, Karine Richard. His school, the Sainte-Thérèse high school, confined the students to prevent them from going out and finding themselves within the perimeter of police officers who had intervened for a man barricaded near the establishment. PHOTO MARIE-LAURENCE DELAINEY/AGENCE QMI
MARIE-LAURENCE DELAINEY/AGENCE QMI
“I went to look up on the internet what a code black is. The anxiety took over no worse. I looked in the school’s code of conduct, nothing, there is nowhere where it really explains what a black code is,” laments the mother.
According to information from the QMI Agency, a possibly armed man had barricaded himself in his home, near the Sainte-Thérèse high school. The students were confined to prevent them from going out during lunch time and meeting up near the perimeter. No one was hurt.
Quebec also wants more consistency
The office of the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, recalls that the plan for the prevention of violence and bullying in schools tabled in October, which includes a mandatory emergency protocol in each educational establishment, aims, among other things, to standardize the rules.
“Our objective is to ensure that there is consistency in the network and that each environment applies emergency measures which must also be well communicated.”