The investigative report commissioned by Minister Drainville to shed light on the administrative handling of sexual misconduct in schools takes a harsh view of current oversight measures and highlights several deficiencies that need to be addressed to better protect students.
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This investigation was launched in March by Education Minister Bernard Drainville following several allegations of sexual misconduct within the school network in recent months.
The report, released in July, includes several findings that provide a better understanding of how school personnel who engaged in deviant sexual behavior have managed to plague schools, sometimes for many years.
It is said that the meshes of the safety net of school organizations must be tightened.
The report raises several observations: information “does not flow” between different employers, there is a lack of consistency in the teacher supervision system, the process for dealing with complaints and denunciations is “sometimes cumbersome” and “underutilized” and training for stakeholders is lacking sufficient is limited.
In addition, the gradation of sanctions is “not always possible”, the balance of power between the plaintiff and the accused is “unbalanced”, victims and whistleblowers are not always informed about the processing of the complaint and “there is no system”. “Follow-up” criminal background checks during employment.
Furthermore, the adoption, dissemination and use of codes of ethics are not systematic.
The report contains several recommendations to correct the situation.
These findings were drawn following specific investigations by the Ministry into 18 “retained and analyzed” cases. Specific recommendations are made for eight school service centers and one private school (see below). Detailed information about these events is all blacked out in the report, making it impossible to know the details.
In recent months some of these situations have been brought to light by the media. In February, the Journal reported in particular on the case of a teacher at the Chemin-du-Roy service center who impregnated one of his 16-year-old students and was able to continue teaching.
At the Patriotes service center, a teacher convicted of pimping in the late 1990s was able to return to teaching after his release from prison, as Le Journal also reported earlier this year.
Education Minister Bernard Drainville will respond to this report this morning.
More details to come.
School service centers that were the subject of a specific sexual misconduct investigation:
- from Laval
- from Montréal
- of the affluent (Lanaudière)
- of the Thousand Islands (Laurentides)
- of the patriot (Montérégie)
- Pointe-de-l’Île (Montreal)
- from Trois-Lacs (Montérégie)
- of the First Lordships (Quebec)
private school
- Saint Charles Garnier College (Quebec)
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