Protestant group calls for neutral body on secularism amid Bedford controversy

Reports of proselytizing in Quebec’s public schools have renewed calls for an independent body to protect children’s right to a secular education, according to a group of evangelical Protestant churches.

The Réseau évangélique du Québec has condemned what it sees as the politicization of religion by certain parties in the ongoing debate over teachers allegedly violating confidentiality duties in public schools, including Bedford School in Montreal.

The Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ) and the Parti Québécois (PQ) recently voted to end public funding for private religious schools, though the controversy pertains to public, not private, schools.

“The religious schools issue has been entirely exaggerated,” said Jean-Christophe Jasmin, the group’s director of external affairs, in an interview with The Canadian Press on Monday.

“Why, when the state fails to maintain religious neutrality, is the response to target religious groups that are uninvolved? Public schools are bound by laws that they are not following, while private religious schools adhere to the curriculum and regulations. There’s no logical connection here.”

Religious minorities, Jasmin argued, are being unjustly affected and even discriminated against. For instance, he noted that evangelical organizations often face cancellations when renting spaces in hotels or municipal halls, allegedly due to secularism laws, even though renting to religious groups is not prohibited under the law.

Jasmin advocates for the creation of an independent, neutral body, such as a proposed "Observatory of Secularism," to clarify legal interpretations, receive complaints, and make recommendations.

According to the PQ, around fifty religious schools—Catholic, Protestant evangelical, Muslim, Jewish, or Orthodox—receive about $160 million in public funding annually in Quebec.

An investigation into Bedford School revealed that girls were prohibited from playing soccer and highlighted “certain religious practices, such as prayers in classrooms and ablutions in communal toilets.”

While these practices were “mostly not conducted in front of students,” the report mentions “two incidents where students were allegedly involved in religious practices.”

The report also described a “strong influence of the community environment on several Bedford school staff members,” noting that some staff attended a nearby community center and mosque.

The investigation further indicated the presence of “clans” within the school, reflecting ideological rather than strictly ethnic divides.

While the majority group mainly comprised individuals of Maghrebi origin, the minority group, which included some of the strongest opposition to the majority, also contained people of Maghrebi descent.

The report also found “gaps in the teaching of oral communication, science and technology, ethics and religious culture, and sex education.”