Islam in Canada > How will Quebec respond to prayer rooms in junior colleges?

Will Quebec take on Islamic prayer rooms in colleges in its efforts to be secular?

Prayer rooms causing tensions in Quebec colleges, new government report says

By Maura Forrest  The Canadian Press

Posted June 27, 2025 10:47 am

 Updated June 27, 2025 2:15 pm

 3 min read

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Quebec Minister for Higher Education Pascale Déry responds to the Opposition during question period, Thursday, May 9, 2024, at the legislature in Quebec City. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

Prayer rooms, political student groups and controversial course content are fuelling a climate of tension and mistrust at two of Quebec’s junior colleges, according to a new government report.

The report, published Friday by Quebec’s Education Department, says prayer rooms can foster radicalization and divisions between students. It also questions whether the rooms even belong in public colleges.

This is among a range of issues highlighted in the report, from the sale of kaffiyehs on campus to language classes focused on Palestinian culture, which it says are causing strain among students and teachers.

“We absolutely have to find a way to return to a healthy climate,” said Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry in an interview. “Because a climate of tension and a climate of mistrust has reigned in these two establishments for several months.”

The 71-page document is the result of a months-long investigation at Dawson and Vanier colleges, two English-language junior colleges in Montreal. It was launched last November following complaints that tensions around the Israel-Hamas war had created an unsafe atmosphere on campus.

The report recommends that the government adopt a new law to regulate academic freedom in the college system. It also says the province should ensure its secularism rules are fully respected.

Déry did not say how the government will respond to the report, or whether it will ban prayer rooms in junior colleges. The Coalition Avenir Québec government has already barred public schools from making space available for students to pray.

“Respect for the principles of secularism is non-negotiable,” Déry said. She pointed to a line in the report that describes how a prayer room for Muslim students at Vanier College has a dividing curtain so that women and men don’t pray together.

“For us, it is not normal that within a public organization, we separate men and women,” Déry said.

The report focuses heavily on pro-Palestinian student groups and activities, and says colleges lack the power to intervene when the actions of student clubs run counter to the institutions’ values.

It notes that kaffiyehs are sold weekly at Dawson, and that a Palestinian student group at Vanier promotes wearing the scarves, which symbolize solidarity with Palestinians.

“It is clear from the testimonies heard that this activity creates tensions, as opinions diverge on this cause,” the report says. It found that pro-Palestinian student groups at both colleges are violating their own constitutions, which say they must not be political.

The investigation also found that the principle of academic freedom is not applied uniformly across the college system, which it says can cause “tensions and friction” between teachers.

It says the selection of guest speakers and topics for symposiums can often be controversial, leading to suspicion and the formation of cliques among teachers.

It also says students raised concerns about two classes at Dawson and Vanier that focused on Palestinian culture, despite being billed as language classes. At Vanier last winter, an English class on contemporary fiction was replaced at the last minute with a course on Palestinian short stories.

Opposition parties and academic unions accused Déry of political interference after she asked Dawson last year to evaluate a French literature course focused on Palestinian culture. On Friday, she defended that decision.

“I’m doing my job,” she said. “I ask questions. I’m going to continue to ask questions if I need to ask questions.”

The report found that colleges have little control over course content. “Academic freedom does not justify activism or the promotion of ideologies in any form,” it says.

Islamization in Quebec > New bill will provoke a fight with Islam in Quebec if it can be enforced

 

Quebec thinks it can legislate a godless province

New bill will require newcomers to Quebec to adopt ‘common culture,’ minister says

Quebec’s immigration minister says newcomers to the province need to embrace the “common culture” to avoid ghettoization.

The Quebec government will table a new bill on the integration of immigrants on Thursday, which will require newcomers to adhere to Quebec values like gender equality and secularism.

Immigration Minister Jean-François Roberge told reporters today that Canada has never defined its own common culture, and the Canadian model of multiculturalism doesn’t work for Quebec.

Does it work anywhere in Canada?

Roberge says there will be mechanisms in the law to ensure its principles are followed, but offered no details.

He says he wants immigrants to attend Quebec shows, films and celebrations and to mix with people outside their own communities.

Roberge says the bill is in line with his government’s previous Quebec identity-related legislation, including the secularism law and the language reform.

2:1

Disturbing story of Quebec man's poor medical care leading to Medically Assisted Suicide

 

Sin is progressive! Once you open a door to evil, even though it seems good, things will just get worse and worse. Canada's MAiD, Medical Assistance in Death policy is an example. Off to a cautious and almost reasonable start when first introduced by woke elites, it has taken steps every year to make it more accessible to more people. Now they want people to be able to decide well in advance of meeting the requirements. 

In this case, a man's poor medical care left him in so much agony, he chose to end his life in order to end the pain.

Quadriplegic man’s MAID death from bedsore 

results in public inquiry being ordered

By Kalina Laframboise  Global News

Posted June 25, 2024 9:28 am

 Updated June 25, 2024 3:38 pm

 2 min read

Quebec’s chief coroner has ordered a public inquiry into the medically assisted death of a quadriplegic man after he developed a severe bedsore during a hospital stay.

The decision announced Tuesday comes after Quebec’s public security minister demanded an investigation into Normand Meunier’s death.

The 66-year-old man was admitted to a hospital in Saint-Jérôme, just north of Montreal, last January. He was being treated for a respiratory illness.

During his hospital stay, Meunier developed a major pressure sore on his buttocks. Moelle épinière et motricité Québec, a group that advocates for people with spinal cord injuries and improved mobility, said the sore exposed muscle around Meunier’s tailbone.

In late March, he received medical assistance in dying to put an end to his suffering.

“It was not his choice. He asked for medical assisted to death as a result of no choice and lack of care,” said Ariane Gauthier-Tremblay, a social worker with the advocacy group.

“We want to make it very clear.”

Meunier’s death sent shock waves through Quebec, with members of opposition parties describing Meunier’s death as a “true shame” for the province.

An internal investigation was launched by the local public health authority that oversees the hospital, but calls grew for a separate, independent probe. Health Minister Christian Dubé has also announced an investigation into Meunier’s death.

Meunier’s wife told Radio-Canada she had said to hospital staff that Meunier needed a special mattress to avoid bedsores, but that he spent four days on an emergency room stretcher without one.

Sylvie Brosseau spoke publicly about her husband’s death in May, saying she would continue to fight and that she didn’t want Meunier to have died “in vain.”

“There are other people who are very unwell in hospitals at the moment,” Brosseau said at the time, adding they must receive proper care.

Quebec Coroner Dave Kimpton will oversee the inquiry, which will include public hearings from interested parties.

The inquiry will look into the circumstances surrounding Meunier’s case and make recommendations as to prevent similar deaths. The dates have not yet been set.

The decision to hold a public inquiry comes as a relief for both Meunier’s family and Moelle épinière et motricité Québec. Gauthier-Tremblay hopes it will help prevent similar situations.

“We want physically disabled people to be confident when they go to the hospital and we want them to have specific care that respects their spinal cord injuries. We want them to be safe and healed when they go to the hospital,” Gauthier-Tremblay said.

The regional health authority in charge of the hospital confirmed its own investigation is ongoing and it will cooperate with the coroner’s inquiry.

— with files from Global’s Felicia Parrillo and The Canadian Press

Islam in Quebec > Muslim employee goes berserk and threatens restaurant customers

 

Muslims, even so-called 'moderate' Muslims, are easily provoked into Islamic hysteria. Such things as the incident below happen multiple times every day in France. And they will increase in frequency in Canada as we invite more Muslims into the country with no requirements from them to leave their bloodthirsty, dark-age, religious madness behind.

Quebec: Knife-wielding Muslim migrant gets three charges

of attempted murder for attack in restaurant where he works

JAN 11, 2024 9:30 AM BY ROBERT SPENCER

When Ahmed May was hired at La Belle et La Bœuf, his employers no doubt assumed that he was a “moderate” and were pleased with themselves for their commitment to “diversity.” Then he rewarded them for their kindness to him by attempting to make good on the Qur’an’s exhortation to “kill them wherever you find them” (2:191, 4:89, cf. 9:5).

After armed attack, the restaurant La Belle et la Boeuf reopens today

translated from “Après l’agression armée, le restaurant La Belle et la Boeuf rouvre aujourd’hui,” by Alexandra Duchaine, Radio-Canada, January 3, 2024:

Two weeks after the knife attack committed by an employee, the restaurant La Belle et La Bœuf on Boulevard Talbot, in the borough of Chicoutimi, will reopen its doors on Thursday.

The establishment, located a few steps from the Place du realm shopping center, made the announcement on Facebook. “We have spent the last two weeks regaining our strength. With the help of CAVAC (Crime Victim Assistance Center), we have offered and continue to offer all the necessary support to our entire team,” we can read in the publication….

“From that moment we have been shaken, whether we were present on site during the event or even if we were absent, thinking about what could have happened and imagining a scenario, it can really provoke different reactions and consequences,” explains Nathalie Turcotte….

On December 20, an employee of La Belle et la Bœuf allegedly pointed a knife at people who were at the restaurant. Following the event, two people were taken to hospital for physical injuries and a third for psychological shock.

Ahmed May, a Tunisian national who has his permanent residence in Canada, appeared in court the day after the incident. He faces three counts of attempted murder.

Added to this are two charges related to his arrest. He is accused of obstructing and resisting police officers, in addition to assaulting two officers.

Other charges could also be brought against the man.

Ahmed May has been detained since December 20. The investigation for his release is scheduled for January 12.

Chicoutimi, QC

Freedom of Speech > Lives in Quebec, as long as you agree with the acceptable narrative

..

How Quebec is getting a freedom-of-speech lesson from

a controversial Christian group

Experts say province cancelling religious event points to fragility of fundamental right

Holly Cabrera · CBC News · 

Posted: Jun 13, 2023 1:00 AM PDT |

Quebec Tourism Minister Caroline Proulx said events that run counter to the government's 'fundamental principles'

can't be held at government-run convention centres. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press)

An evangelical group is preparing to take the Quebec government to court for allegedly breaching its fundamental rights, after the province abruptly terminated a contract to host an event in a public space.

While some initially applauded the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government's show of support for women's right to choose at a time when abortion rights in the U.S. have been jeopardized, constitutional experts are saying the move casts doubt on the health of freedom of expression in Quebec.

Quebec Tourism Minister Caroline Proulx cancelled the gathering by Kelowna, B.C.,-based Harvest Ministries International (HMI) — less than a month before it was to take place — because she said the event was anti-abortion, which goes against "the fundamental principles" of the province. The contract dated back to February.

But HMI maintains that no anti-abortion content was part of the rally's program.

The rally was supposed to take place at the Quebec City Convention Centre from June 23 to July 2.

(Olivia Laperrière-Roy/Radio-Canada)

Samuel Bachand, a lawyer representing HMI, said, to his knowledge, the group has been unable to find another venue in the city to host the "Faith Fire Freedom" rally scheduled for June 23.

The gathering was advertised as part of the group's "Battle for Canada" prayer-and-revival movement, which seeks to have conservative Christians take over the Canadian political system and provides a platform for transphobic messaging. 

HMI has had its fair share of controversies.

Quebec government won't reinstate event by controversial Christian group

The group openly holds anti-abortion views, with its leader, Art Lucier, in online videos repeatedly condemning Bill C-150 — a law passed in 1969 that decriminalized homosexuality and abortion in Canada.

In the past couple of years, the HMI church has been fined thousands of dollars for disregarding public health orders during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bachand said the group will be filing a civil lawsuit by the end of June, claiming compensatory and punitive damages, constitutional declarations and other remedies.

He says the government is breaching Sections 3, 10 and 15 of Quebec's Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, which relate to freedom of expression, discrimination and access to public space.

Art Lucier, right, pictured here with his wife, Heather, is the leader of Harvest Ministries International, based in Kelowna, B.C. (Submitted by Harvest Ministries International)

HMI issued a formal notice on June 5 to Proulx and the director of the Quebec City convention centre, saying it estimates the cancellation cost it $450,000 in material losses.

All three opposition parties initially backed the government's call, but within a week, the Parti Québécois and Québec Solidaire had reconsidered their position.

And in no shortage of irony, the Liberal Party of Quebec — a party whose name bears the word "liberal" — doubled down against exercising freedom of expression. Interim leader Marc Tanguay said the government used an "exceptional measure" to keep out a group that describes abortion as "murder."

But the CAQ and the Liberals' reasoning poses a risk to fundamental rights, which the public should pay more attention to, says Université de Montréal constitutional law professor Stéphane Beaulac.

As HMI points out in its formal notice, even if organizers had intended for the gathering to be an anti-abortion event, the government pulling the plug on the meeting is questionable at best and a Charter violation at worst.

State 'censorship' doesn't end here, experts warn

Robert Leckey, the dean of McGill University's faculty of law and a fervent advocate for LGBTQ rights, called the government's decision to cancel the gathering "very problematic."

"Nobody bats an eyelid about freedom of expression when it's used by people expressing congenial views," Leckey said. "It only matters when it's views that are controversial."

Robert Leckey, the dean of the McGill Faculty of Law, says Quebec opposition parties' initial support of the government's move isn't surprising given the concern for women's rights after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade just a year ago.

(Submitted by Robert Leckey)

Drawing a parallel between the event cancellation and Education Minister Bernard Drainville banning prayer spaces in public schools in April in the name of religious neutrality of the State, Leckey said the ministers "seem to think that they have a very immediate role to play when they see something they don't like going on."

He added "there's no reason to think" governmental interference would be limited to this one case involving an evangelical church group.

Not mincing words, Beaulac called the broken contract an example of censorship.

The CAQ government "punishing a group" because it disagrees with it on issues like abortion is essentially a "blatant case of abuse of public power that is intertwined with fundamental freedoms," he added.

What is especially troubling, Beaulac says, is the government citing a conflict with its own "fundamental principles" to explain why the convention centre would no longer host the event.

Fundamental rights are protections for people — not abstractions like the State, he said.

Stéphane Beaulac, a constitutional law professor at Université de Montréal, says the government cancelling the event reflects a 'blatant case of abuse of public power.' (Submitted by Stéphane Beaulac)

"The issue is not about abortion," he said. "It's about the expression of those opinions, and it's about the possibility of holding an assembly."

"It's not for the government to decide what you think."

Burden of proof is on government

The notice goes as far as saying the cancellation echoes the infamous Roncarelli v. Duplessis Supreme Court case.

The 1959 landmark case saw Quebec premier Maurice Duplessis illegally revoke the liquor licence of a Montreal restaurant owner who was a Jehovah's Witness at a time when Quebec was resolutely Roman Catholic.

Meet the man who took on Quebec premier Maurice Duplessis and won in the Supreme Court of Canada.

Aired May 25, 1965 on CBC's Front Page Challenge.

Quebec's Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission said last Friday the government's actions raised "fundamental questions relative to the protection of rights guaranteed by the Quebec Charter of Rights and Freedoms."

Since no right is absolute, rights must always be reconciled with others, which sets the bar to prevent freedom of expression in a liberal democracy pretty high, Beaulac says.

For instance, hate speech is not protected by freedom of expression rights.

A clear threat of imminent violence or an attempt to overthrow a democratic government are two other obvious limits to freedoms that come to mind, he says.

But the tourism minister didn't cite those reasons: the government ultimately cancelled the event because of a difference of opinion.

Quebec's Charter of Rights and Freedoms, partly inspired by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, became law in 1975.

Given the rights laid out in it — and in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms — HMI's lawyer says there is no need for the government to impose its own fundamental principles.

"If they are not happy with the Constitution, they can always try to have it amended... unless they come up with another one of those notwithstanding clauses which they seem to be very fond of," Bachand said in a statement, alluding to the CAQ government's pre-emptive use of Section 33 to pass Bill 21, the secularism law, and Bill 96, a more stringent language law.

Beaulac says the onus is on the Quebec government to prove there is a high enough risk of public unrest or the possibility of subverting the State to justify cancelling a gathering in a public space.

So far, the reason Quebec put forth is "no way near" the mark, he said.

A spokesperson for the tourism minister declined to comment on the case.

Corruption is Everywhere - Certainly in Quebec Construction

Former SNC-Lavalin CEO pleads guilty

in superhospital fraud case

CBC News 

Former SNC-Lavalin CEO Pierre Duhaime leaves a Montreal courtroom on Friday, after pleaded guilty to a charge of helping a public servant commit breach of trust for his role in the MUHC superhospital bribe scandal. (Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press)

Former SNC-Lavalin CEO Pierre Duhaime pleaded guilty to helping a public servant commit breach of trust in a Montreal courtroom Friday morning, six years after he was first arrested in a major fraud case related to a new hospital complex.

According to the Crown, Duhaime, 64, admitted to turning a blind eye to bribes made by his company in order to rig the bidding process so SNC-Lavalin would win the contract to build the new McGill University Hospital Centre (MUHC) superhospital in Montreal.

That contract was worth $1.3 billion.

"Instead of acting upon that knowledge, and stopping this from happening, which he could have done, he chose to look the other way," said prosecutor Robert Rouleau.

Quebec's anti-corruption squad arrested Duhaime in November 2012 on 15 charges, including fraud, conspiracy and forgery. Fourteen of those charges were withdrawn Friday.

​Duhaime's trial was supposed to begin next Monday.

He was alleged to have paid a total of $22.5 million in bribes to secure the MUHC contract. Of that money, $10 million went to Yanaï Elbaz, the former director of redevelopment for the MUHC.

Provincial court Judge Dominique Joly accepted a joint recommendation from the defence and Crown that Duhaime be sentenced to 20 months of house arrest, 240 hours of community service, and make a $200,000 donation to a fund that compensates victims of crime.

The wealthy have their own judicial system. House arrest!!!? Mind you, SNC Lavalin has been involved in corruption accusations all over the world as bribery is a way of life in construction, not just in Quebec but, most likely, in nearly every country. If a company is going to compete internationally, they have to play the game.

4th to plead guilty

Duhaime is the fourth person to plead guilty to charges in connection with the hospital contract, which one Quebec police investigator has called "the biggest case of corruption fraud in Canadian history."

Last November, Elbaz was sentenced to 39 months in prison after pleading guilty to charges including breach of trust and conspiracy.

Riadh Ben Aissa, SNC-Lavalin's former vice-president of construction, was sentenced to 51 months in prison in July. He pleaded guilty to one charge of using a forged document.

Pamela Porter, the wife of Arthur Porter, the former chief executive of MUHC who died in Panama in 2015, was jailed for money laundering in 2014. 

Duhaime hasn't been CEO of the engineering company since 2012, when he stepped down after an internal audit found he signed off on "improper payments" to undisclosed agents.

The Making of a Mass Murderer in Canada

Quebec City mosque shooter obsessed with mass murderers since adolescence

'I regret not shooting more people,' Alexandre Bisonnette says in report presented during sentencing arguments

Julia Page · CBC News ·

Alexandre Bissonnette was charged with six counts of first-degree murder and six counts of attempted murder in connection with the Jan. 29, 2017 shooting. (Canadian Press, Handout/Sûreté du Québec )

Alexandre Bissonnette's obsession with mass murderers started when he was an adolescent, and he had wanted to carry out a mass killing ever since, a Quebec City court heard on Monday.

A report written by social worker Guylaine Cayouette set off cries of horror inside the courtroom when it was presented as evidence on Monday by the Crown at sentencing arguments for the 28-year-old.

Bissonnette pleaded guilty in March to six counts of first degree murder, as well as six counts of attempted murder for the Jan. 29, 2017 shooting.

Quebec Superior Court Justice François Huot must decide whether Bissonnette will be eligible for parole after 25 years, or not at all. Huot has the possibility of adding up the parole eligibility sentences, which could mean 150 years behind bars.

Cayouette, Bissonnette's liaison officer, filed the report after a meeting with him on Sept. 20, 2017. That day, she wrote, Bissonnette carried himself differently from the man she had met, almost weekly, since his arrest.

Bissonnette told her he was tired of playing a game, and that he remembered everything about the attack.

In contrast to his muddled responses to police immediately after the shooting, Bissonnette described in detail what happened when he approached the mosque in the Quebec City suburb of Sainte-Foy.

He said when he entered the prayer room, an old man grabbed his arm, presumably Azzeddine Soufiane, who tried to disarm Bissonnette that night.

"I shot him. I regret not shooting more people," he told Cayouette.

Alexandre Bissonnette wears a Make America Great Again hat of the kind used in President Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign. (Court handout)

Inside the courtroom, families of the victims cried out as the report was read aloud. They also heard that Bissonnette said he could have killed anyone, not just Muslims.

When court adjourned for break, Bissonnette stood up looking directly at the audience, with what looked like a huge smile.

Hours scouring the Internet

Earlier in the day, the court heard how Bissonnette spent hours in front of his computer screen looking up mass shootings, Islam and U.S. immigration policies in the days leading up to the shooting.

During the month of January 2017, he typed in the words "shooting" and "shooter" 150 times in his search engine, a police report presented as evidence shows.

The six victims of the Quebec Mosque shooting, clockwise from left: Mamadou Tanou Barry, Azzeddine Soufiane, Abdelkrim Hassane, Ibrahima Barry, Aboubaker Thabti and Khaled Belkacemi. (CBC)

He also looked for information about the Quebec Islamic Cultural Centre and the Muslim students association at Laval University 82 times during that month and 12 times in the hours before shooting.

Bissonnette seemed particularly interested in Dylann Roof, a white supremacist who killed nine churchgoers inside a church in South Carolina, searching for references to the mass murderer 201 times during that month.

He also looked up references to Marc Lépine, the man convicted of killing 14 women in 1989 at the Polytechnique engineering school, and looked into feminist groups at Laval University. 

A photo of Bissonnette found on his computer shows him wearing a red baseball cap with the slogan used by Donald Trump during his presidential campaign, Make America Great Again. 

Bissonnette read several articles detailing Trump's executive order which would have temporarily banned people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S.

He also consulted Donald Trump's twitter feed on a daily basis, Jacques said.

The evidence presented on Monday supported information found in Bissonnette's interrogation video, which was presented last Friday.

Just two hours before entering the Sainte-Foy mosque and firing his gun 48 times, Bissonnette read a tweet from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, which welcomed "those fleeing persecution" into Canada, according to evidence presented Monday.

Victim impact statements were set to begin Monday afternoon.

Madness, obsession, or demonic influence

As I mentioned before, I would bet money that Bissonette began smoking pot as an adolescent. Pot, in adolescence frequently results in schizophrenia, paranoia, and other psychotic diseases. 

Another way of looking at it is as demonic activity. Bissonette's fixation with mass murders could easily be associated with a demon, a powerful demon. He said, in an article posted here a couple days ago, (same link as just above) that he was convinced a massacre would happen soon. He thought it would be Muslim driven, but it turned out he was the terrorist. A demon can put that kind of fear into a person's head and fix their attention on it.

Did Bissonette surrender himself to the demon when he decided to tell Cayouette the truth and his entire demeanor changed? Was the demon speaking when he stated that he wished he had killed more? Was that the demon smiling at the families of the victims when Bissonette turned around in the courtroom? 

I expect most of you don't believe in demons, but I can tell you, this sounds like just the way they act.