Teachers' union at Montreal elementary school under investigation pushes back against education minister

The teachers' union linked to Bedford elementary school in Montreal — where 11 teachers were suspended for allegedly fostering a toxic working environment — says it isn't to blame for persisting psychological and physical harm against students at the school. 

In an interview with Radio-Canada's Tout un matin on Monday, Catherine Beauvais-St-Pierre — president of L'Alliance des professeures et professeurs de Montréal — pushed back against criticism from Quebec Education Minister Bernard Drainville.

She said the union had redirected teachers to the school administration to file complaints when it was first informed of concerns related to classroom management and disagreements between teachers.

Bedford elementary school, which is located in Montreal's west-central Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood, is the subject of a 90-page government report. According to the report from the Education Ministry, those 11 teachers formed a "dominant clan" that intimidated students and staff since the 2016-17 school year. 

According to the ministry report, 98.5 FM has described the "clan" intimidating students and school administration as being mainly composed of people of North African origin.

However, investigators noted in the report that while there may be two opposing groups among staff at the school, they are both made up of people of different origins, and investigators mainly observed "an opposition of ideologies."

"It is important to emphasize that although the majority clan is mainly composed of people of Maghrebi origin, people of other origins are also associated with it," the report said. "The minority clan is also partly composed of individuals of Maghrebi origin, including some who are strongly opposing the majority clan."

Witnesses quoted in the report say some teachers deny that autism and learning disabilities exist. The report says teachers allegedly said students who are struggling are "lazy" and "don't want to make the necessary efforts."

Since the Education Ministry's investigative report was published on Oct. 11, the ministry assigned two provincial government employees to the school to monitor the situation and draft an action plan by the end of November.

Drainville has said he believes teachers did not alert the ministry to the incidents because they feared reprisal. In an interview with Radio-Canada's Tout le monde en parle on Sunday, he faulted the union for allegedly knowing what was happening at the school and not defending teachers who were against the "dominant clan."  

But the union president said on Monday that like any employer, it was the school administrator's responsibility to protect staff and students from harassment. 

"We did what we had to do," Beauvais-St-Pierre said. "No, we will not blame ourselves because we care about schools. We care about students."

The union delegate at the school was also the subject of complaints raised in the investigation, Beauvais-St-Pierre confirmed. But when asked why the union did not remove that delegate from their position, she said the teachers' alliance doesn't have the power to replace delegates because they are democratically elected by schools.

Teachers suspended more than a week after report's publication

The 11 teachers who are the subjects of the investigative report were suspended Friday evening — more than a week after the report was made public. 

Drainville said the suspensions could not be imposed before the service centre identified those teachers. He also noted that substitutes were assigned to each class affected. He said the head of the investigation committees recently informed the Centre de services scolaire de Montréal (CSSDM) executive director Isabelle Gélinas of their names.

Sunday, Drainville noted that it is not yet clear what the CSSDM knew about the situation at Bedford. Despite that, he reiterated his trust in Gélinas. 

But Liberal MNA Marwah Rizqy, who urged the Education Ministry to look into the school following reporting by Quebec radio station 98.5 FM, disagrees. Since Tuesday, Rizqy has been calling for Gélinas to resign. 

In a post on X published on Sunday night, Rizqy cited passages from the ministry's investigation report, which say that "several staff members" reported the situation and alerted the CSSDM. Yet, these reports were "not necessarily considered formal complaints" which required follow-ups. 

Monday, on Radio-Canada's Tout un matin, Rizqy accused Gélinas of trying to sweep under the rug an initial report from 2021 detailing the troubling climate at the school. Gélinas began her tenure in 2022.

She also scoffed at the idea that Gélinas just found out the names of the 11 teachers being investigated.

Three other schools with the CSSDM — Bienville and Saint-Pascal-Baylon elementary schools and La Voie high school — are being monitored by the provincial ministry for issues related to a potentially toxic climate.

Beauvais-St-Pierre said the school service centre refuses to share with the union any information on interventions at the three other schools the ministry is currently investigating.

Update Nov. 13, 2024: CBC has added information from the Education Ministry report to this story for additional context.