A Montreal public school where teachers allegedly refused to teach the mandatory sex education curriculum—and male teachers ostracized their female colleagues along with female students—has re-ignited a slow-simmering societal debate in Quebec over private religious school funding.
‘L’Affaire Bedford’ centred on Bedford elementary school where allegations included that a teacher performed ritual ablutions in class; girls were told they could not participate in ‘boy’s’ sports and parts of the mandatory sex education curriculum were not being taught. Male teachers were alleged to have objected to female specialists working with kids in their class; denied the existence of autism and learning disabilities; and used corporal punishment. A local Muslim community centre was involved in school activities and the school had a dysfunctional work atmosphere controlled by a “dominant clan” of teachers.
The Ministry of Education’s investigative division produced a report and suspended the teaching licenses of 11 Bedford teachers while it investigates further. Another five public city schools and several public daycares across Greater Montreal with similarly reported problems are now in the government’s crosshairs.
It all touched on the hot-button issue of secularism in Quebec, whose Bill 21 prohibits wearing religious symbols such as kippahs, hijabs, and crosses by government employees in certain posts, such as teachers, principals, police officers and judges. (The law exempts those already employed in their current position.)
Bedford is a public school, but the opposition Parti Québécois (PQ) and Québec Solidaire (QS) used the case last month to re-energize the debate, asking the government on Oct. 24 to defund private schools that teach one specific religion to their charges.
Currently there are at least 16 Jewish schools in and around Greater Montreal and funded by a combination of government grants, parents’ contributions in tuition and fees, and charitable donations from foundations and individuals. The landscape is similar throughout Quebec’s private religious school sector, which includes Greek, Armenian, Muslim, Jewish and Christian schools.
The PQ wants an end to all funding to private religious schools and QS and Quebec Liberal MNAs voted in favour of the PQ motion. The motion was defeated by Premier François Legault’s CAQ government, which pledged to maintain the current “traditional compromise” of private and public funding.
While the motion that re-launched the debate died with the CAQ’s objection, the issue is still alive and is becoming one of Quebec’s hot political issues. Indeed, Legault soon announced he was open to debating the matter—the financial aspects as well as the principle ,noting Quebec City spends approximately $160 million on 50 private schools.
Legault pointed out that the province would not reap any savings by cutting funding to private schools, which are funded at 60 percent. Presumably, many of the students would return to the public system, which is fully funded by Quebec.
According to Canada Revenue Agency figures quoted by French media, Jewish schools rely most heavily on charitable donations and foundations, to cover education costs. Religious schools on average receive about $6,000 per student in public funds.
(Provincial governments partially fund diverse religious schools in many provinces, however in Ontario, only Catholic schools receive public funds.)
Montreal is home to seven non-haredi elementary Jewish schools and four high schools according to the Association of Jewish Day Schools which describes member schools as “licensed according to the norms of the Ministry of Education, Recreation and Sports… Students follow a secular program of study supplemented by a diverse and enriched program of Jewish studies.”
The amount of money, students or even schools notwithstanding, the debate has loudly morphed into whether Quebec should be financing private religious schools at all, if some teach religion to the detriment of core parts of Quebec’s public education program (QEP).
Currently, all religious private schools must provide a secular education scheme based on QEP. All religious instruction must be taught off-hours, i.e., later in the day, evenings or weekends, and no government funding can go towards religious aspects of schooling.
In recent years, agreements have been struck between government, private religious schools and school boards including a handful of ultra-Orthodox schools and campuses. In the 2023-2024 school year, the English Montreal School Board—the province’s largest—supervised home-schooling arrangements for more than 1,200 Jewish students.
Elisabeth Prass, one of Quebec’s two Jewish MNAs, represents the heavily Jewish riding of D’Arcy-McGee. Absent from the National Assembly while her colleagues supported last month’s motion, Prass was vocal and resolute in her opposition to pulling funding. “What happened at Bedford, a public school, is unacceptable,” she told The CJN.
“The Liberal Party of Quebec will always defend the protection of students from religious proselytizing, but we should not paint private religious schools with the same brush,” she said.
As long as they follow the rules, she said, they shouldn’t be targeted by defunding threats. “Schools must use public funds only for the Quebec curriculum, no money used for religious education, and they must respect gender equality. If they fulfill those, then they should continue to receive funding.”
What’s more, she says much of Jewish school funding comes from donations and charitable initiatives “because families can’t afford it, and this allows middle-class children to attend these schools.” Private schools that benefit from charitable initiatives established by communities and families for that purpose should be lauded, says Prass, not pilloried. “You can’t penalize a school because its community is involved and created foundations and funding for it, that should be a feather in its cap.”
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) said private schools are a historic and integral part of Quebec’s education system, and notes the Education Ministry’s curriculum is taught in Jewish schools at all levels “thanks to government support… For decades, these institutions have played a crucial role in educating generations of civically engaged Quebecers and Canadians.”
Prass called the Assembly vote “a rash decision and one based on the moment, which was rife with emotion. People are confusing apples and oranges: this was not about Bedford School, and the issue of religious school funding has nothing to do with that.” She says her position “is still that of what we’ve held since 1961. And it’s not for 19 members of a caucus to decide for the entire party.”
Meanwhile, former PQ leader Jean-François Lisée summed up much of the current mood in a recent essay, stating while international treaties protect the right of parents to send their children to religious schools, “nothing obliges states to fund them.”
Education Minister Bernard Drainville assured Quebecers a week after the vote that funding is not in jeopardy but warned that those who skirt mandatory curriculum rules will be punished, “which could include loss of subsidies.” Drainville said the vast majority of private religious schools comply, but that he will ensure his ministry conducts verifications.
On Oct. 26, the Quebec Liberals—who will elect a new leader in June—announced it will study the issue in-depth.The party’s political commission is launching a consultation with members, experts, representatives of the education community and concerned communities. Job one will be “to draw an accurate picture of the situation” reads a statement by the commission, which will report back no later than March 31, three months before the party selects its new leader.
Rabbi Saul Emanuel turned on his computer on the night of Oct. 26 after the High Holidays and discovered, much to his dismay, that the Liberals had voted (along with the other opposition parties) to end funding to private religious schools. In a letter obtained by The CJN, the Jewish Community Council of Montreal’s (JCC) executive director wrote to Prass and her colleagues about the seeming reversal of the party’s longstanding support of Jewish schools.
“In this context we are comforted in the fact that the LPQ (Liberal Party of Quebec) seems to be ‘walking back’ its about-face and is launching a consultation on the funding of private religious schools – we would very much like to be consulted.” Orthodox Jewish schools identified among the 14 Jewish schools listed in media reports “meet the criteria that (Prass) has endorsed” wrote Rabbi Emanuel. “Our schools teach Ministry of Education curriculum and do not receive government grants for religious studies.”
The JCC said it would not be able to provide data about school and student populations in the ultra-Orthodox community.
All declared Liberal leadership candidates have adopted a similar tone. Pablo Rodriguez said all government-funded schools must adhere to the curriculum and rules in place. “If there is religious instruction in private schools, it must be in the evenings and on weekends, outside of normal school hours, and paid for by parents. Period.”
Former Montreal mayor and Liberal leadership candidate Denis Coderre went further, telling The CJN at a hostage rally in Montreal’s west end: “You don’t create policy like this on the corner of a table and undo a 60-year tradition.” Coderre told his party’s leadership that the issue must be decided by the membership, “not by a handful of MNAs in Quebec City.”
“It is good to remember that we are talking here about 50 schools out of 165, therefore $161 million out of a total $600 million in contributions (to all private schools),” he said, citing a 2022 Radio-Canada report that listed 14 Jewish, 27 Catholic and four Muslim, along with Evangelical Protestant, Armenian and Greek Orthodox schools.
Coderre said Quebecers risk “flushing” their collective heritage, “but I am quite tired of this absolutist and sectarian tendency without discernment and nuance.” He also agreed with Prass, who said keeping schools partially state-funded opens them to greater scrutiny and more guarantees “of respect for our societal choices, read: values.”
Prass notes that public schools are already “overwhelmed, underfunded, lacking in space and infrastructure. And all those kids from one year to the next, that they could not attend, where would they go? Throughout this debate, there’s a risk of rational voices being blindsided. These are fundamental issues with huge impact on affected communities, students and families.”
Meanwhile, the PQ, CAQ and QS are musing aloud about bolstering the state’s secularism posture by looking to dovetail parts of Quebec’s secularism law and Quebec’s Education Act.
The real problem, according to the Quebec Conservative Party, which holds no seats in the Assembly despite receiving more than 530,000 votes in the last election, is “Islamization in public schools, not funding for private denominational schools,” says leader Éric Duhaime.
Duhaime says the debate is “a diversion,” targeting religious school financing rather than attacking the problem “in certain public schools and daycares.” The Conservatives want the government to strengthen inspections of all Quebec schools to guarantee the curriculum is respected.
“Instead of changing or voting for laws, the government should ensure existing laws are applied,” adding that “private schools cost less per student than public schools, in addition to innovating and inspiring the public network while following the same academic courses.”
Amid the noise over initial votes and reactions, Liberal leader Marc Tanguay called his troops to order, saying those opposed to the caucus vote, like Prass, should not have gone public. “That should not have happened, and the internal discussion should have been kept within caucus” he told reporters, adding, “I’ll set the example by not commenting publicly.”
