Parents call on Education Ministry to do more to protect private school students from bullying

The mother of a girl who reported being bullied at a Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville school is criticizing Quebec's Ministry of Education because she says the ministry has failed to offer the same level of protection to students at public and private schools.

Christine Gingras says her daughter was bullied when she attended Académie des Sacrés-Cœurs, a private preschool and elementary school on Montreal's South Shore.

She says the Ministry of Education's efforts to raise awareness around bullying within the institution weren't enough to end her daughter's mistreatment.

"It's as if the government is trivializing the situation, that it doesn't see the real effects on a child who suffers in these types of situations," Gingras told Radio-Canada.

The ministry justified its decision not to conduct a more thorough investigation into the incident by referring to the limits of its mandate — the Act respecting private education doesn't allow the ministry to force a private school to impose disciplinary sanctions for acts of bullying.

Ombudsman recommends action

Following an inquiry requested by Gingras, Quebec's ombudsman made a series of recommendations, inviting the Ministry of Education to review the way it deals with complaints of bullying at private schools.

The ombudsman recommended that the Ministry of Education develop and implement a complaint-handling policy for bullying at private educational institutions in the province.

Another recommendation was to have clear guidelines to determine when it becomes justified for a private school to forward a complaint to the minister for an investigation.

"Why doesn't the ministry use its investigative powers?" Gingras said. "Especially after the ombudsman report, which is clear about that."

Gingras and other Académie des Sacrés-Cœurs parents have since teamed up with the parents of other alleged victims of bullying at the Séminaire des Pères Maristes, a private high school in Quebec City.

Explicit photos of three girls who attend the Séminaire were allegedly shared online by six of their male classmates.

After a temporary suspension, the school administration decided to allow the six boys, aged between 12 and 14, to return to school in the same building as their alleged victims.

Government tabled bill to address the issue

Together, the parents are calling on Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard to implement the ombudsman's recommendations.

"Our children need to see that we're taking what happened to them seriously, that we take the way their schools and the government has abandoned them seriously," Gingras said.

Our children need to see that we're taking what happened to them seriously, that we take the way their schools and the government have abandoned them seriously.- Christine Gingras

Education Minister Sébastien Proulx has since reiterated that he plans to improve the complaint mechanisms in public and private schools, particularly those related to bullying.

Bill 183, tabled earlier this week in the National Assembly, will correct the problems outlined by the ombudsman, Proulx said.

The bill also aims to force private schools to have a procedure in place to examine complaints from students or parents.

"The ministry and the Séminaire des Pères Maristes have been working together for weeks," Proulx said.