Quebec to audit 17 schools after complaints over secularism non-compliance – Montreal [Video]

Quebec Education Minister Bernard Drainville says his department will investigate complaints at 17 schools across the province where it is alleged that state secularism is not being respected.

Questions around religious neutrality in schools have been swirling since the publication last month of an Education Department report on a school in Montreal, where media reports had exposed questionable religious practices and a toxic climate.

Eleven teachers were suspended with pay at Montreal’s Bedford school pending a complete investigation into the allegations.

Drainville says in a statement that the 17 audits to be conducted by his department following citizen complaints and should be completed by mid-January.

The schools are all in the French system, with 11 in and around Montreal, three in Quebec City, one …