Quebec schools will no longer be able to dedicate a room to prayer activities, Education Minister Bernard Drainville has ruled by publishing a ministerial directive adopted on Wednesday.
The Minister, who had promised to act in this direction after revelations concerning prayer rooms established in Laval schools, demanded that the school service centers ensure “in each of their schools and each of their centers, that ‘no place is used, in fact or appearance, for the purpose of religious practices such as open prayers or other similar practices,’ the directive reads.
“Schools are places of learning and not places of worship,” added Mr. Drainville in a press release.
The adoption of the ministerial directive aims to enforce the Act respecting the secularism of the State, to which school service centers are subject, within schools, the government pleaded in particular.
The debate began at the beginning of the month when Cogeco Nouvelles revealed that “resourcing” premises had been opened in two Laval schools. These premises were used by students of the Muslim faith to pray, in the midst of Ramadan.
Minister Drainville had initially reacted by affirming that these premises should be accessible to students of all religious denominations and from all walks of life, before changing their minds.
“School is not a place of prayer, it’s not complicated, school is not a place of prayer!”, He claimed on April 5, promising to send a directive at school service centres.
The directive was adopted on the eve of the end of the Ramadan period, in effect from March 22 to April 20 this year.
Mr. Drainville was careful not to want to forbid the students to pray. They will be able to continue to do so “silently” outside the premises dedicated to teaching, he mentioned at the beginning of the month.
The Laval School Services Center explained, at the start of the controversy, that it wanted to secure its schools by inviting students to pray in the same place, rather than scattering all over its establishments.
