(Montreal Gazette) Following up on complaints sparked by allegations of incidents at the Bedford elementary school, Quebec’s Education Ministry is sending inspectors into 17 schools to verify them for possible violations of laicity rules.
The schools to be inspected are in the Montreal, Laval, Quebec and Saguenay regions, Education Minister Bernard Drainville said in a statement Thursday. The inspections will run until Jan. 17.
The government has received complaints of violations of Quebec’s state secularism law, Bill 21, including incidents involving the “separation of state and religions, religious neutrality, the equality of citizens and freedom of conscience and religion,” Drainville said.
“The situation at Bedford raised questions and concerns in the population, which I understand perfectly,” he said. “These inspection mandates are necessary to protect our students. It is for them that schools exist. Their safety and wellbeing are our absolute priorities.”
