Quebec Education Minister Bernard Drainville responds to the Opposition during question period at the legislature in Quebec City, Wednesday, March 29, 2023. Drainville says it will soon be forbidden to have prayer rooms in the province's public schools. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot
Quebec’s education minister says it will soon be forbidden to have prayer rooms in the province’s public schools.
Bernard Drainville told reporters today he has learned of at least two Montreal-area schools that have permitted students to gather for prayer.
Drainville says he will issue the directive to all school services centres, adding that prayer rooms in schools are not compatible with official secularism – a guiding principle of the Quebec state.
The minister, however, isn’t prohibiting prayer altogether, saying that students who want to pray should do so “discreetly” and “silently.”
Drainville’s position has evolved in the past 24 hours – on Tuesday he told schools not to reserve rooms for a single religion and to ensure prayer spaces respected gender equality.
But he changed his mind after the Parti Québécois called for a stronger directive from the Education Department to avoid prayer rooms cropping up across the province.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 5, 2023.
