Classes resume with replacement teachers after 11 suspended at Montreal school [Video]

Eleven Montreal teachers who were suspended for allegedly creating a climate of fear and intimidation inside a Montreal primary school were replaced Monday as the union that represents them rejected criticism from the education minister that it didn’t do enough to correct the problem.

Quebec’s largest school service centre announced the suspensions on Saturday night after a government investigation found a “dominant clan” of teachers imposed strict, autocratic rule over students and intimidated colleagues who opposed them, at Bedford school in the city’s multicultural Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood.

During an appearance Sunday on Radio-Canada talk show “Tout le monde en parle,” Education Minister Bernard Drainville alleged the union knew about the issues at the school but did not defend teachers who were opposing the so-called “dominant clan.”

Drainville said it was unclear exactly what officials at the Centre de services scolaire de Montréal, which oversees the school, knew about the situation, but …