In a press conference on Tuesday, Marwah Rizqy, MP for Saint-Laurent, denounced the recent appointments of two former directors at the École Saint-Laurent, where three staff members who worked there are being prosecuted for sexual assault and sexual exploitation of students. She is calling again for an official inquiry into the tragedies that have been happening there for the past 20 years.
Posted at 10:17 am.
La Presse reported on Tuesday, according to Le Courrier de Saint-Hyacinthe, that the Saint-Hyacinthe School Services Center teachers’ union was concerned about the appointment of Patrice Brisebois as deputy director-general of the organisation. There are no criminal charges against him. From 2013 to 2020 he was director of the École Saint-Laurent.
Dominic Bertrand, against whom there are also no criminal charges, was rector of the École Saint-Laurent from 2010 to 2012 and then rector of the Commission scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys from 2015 to 2023. In April he was appointed Strategic Advisor to the Department of Education and Training.
On Tuesday morning, Marwah Rizqy emphasized that the police had taken care of the criminal part of the investigation. In his view, what is missing from the equation is a truly independent examination of who knew what.
“It’s up to the Department of Education to get to the bottom of things and it can’t investigate in its own backyard,” she said, urging Minister Bernard Drainville to finally turn the job over to an independent company.
In July 2022, the Department of Education said it had completed its investigation but only issued a statement to reporters. Radio-Canada received the report six months later through a request for information. It states that “several indications of inappropriate behavior have accumulated over the years without proper intervention, resulting in a negative culture within a basketball program school.”
It is also mentioned that “the controls related to the sports programs were insufficient”.
According to Ms. Rizqy, “It’s time for people to take responsibility”.
“When are we going to get to the bottom of this? She asks.
After the three arrests of employees of the École Saint-Laurent in 2022, the Center de Services scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys announced in a press release that it would immediately commission an expert company to clarify “the working atmosphere and …” about these events was in reported to the media (which provoked an omerta at school in view of the denunciations).
The School Services Center dropped its investigation a few weeks later without public notice, even though one company had actually been commissioned to do so.
When asked by La Presse, the Marguerite-Bourgeoys School Service Center said it backed down because it had become impossible to conduct two simultaneous investigations into the same situation.
Education Minister Bernard Drainville’s office said on Tuesday that “staff recruitment processes are the responsibility of the School Service Centers (CSS).” It should be noted that criminal charges were filed at the École Saint-Laurent and in the autumn a process will take place. Since the process is regulated by a court, we will not comment further.”
The company did not comment on the appointment of Dominic Bertrand, who reports to Quebec and not to a school service center.
With Hugo Pilon Larose