Laval, Tuesday, October 21, 2025 – During the detailed study of Bill 94, Minister of Education Sonia LeBel
recently stated that she intends to apply the code of ethics imposed on school service center (SSC) board
members to members of governing boards (GB). At first glance, the measure may seem innocuous. However, it
represents a major change in the way decisions will be made in Quebec schools.
GB members are elected to represent parents, students, and staff. They are volunteers who give their time to
ensure that the voices of families, staff, and communities are heard in school life. However, the code of ethics
they intend to impose on them stipulates in black and white that a member’s loyalty must be to the school
service center, not to parents or students.
In other words, a parent elected to the GB would no longer be able to defend the interests of families or question
the administrative decisions of the SSC. A member who asks too many questions or is disruptive could even be
silenced in the name of “ethics”. Enforcing the roles and responsibilities of the GB was already very difficult, and
we have just closed all possibilities of debating or influencing. Worse still, this code would remove the right to
publicly comment on decisions, both during and after the term. Who would still want to sit on a GB under these
conditions?
Parents, teachers, and staff members are not there to be “loyal” to an administration, but to act in the best
interests of students. This is explicitly stated in the Education Act.
What is at stake here goes beyond a question of ethics: it is a question of engagement and real representation in
school structures. Prohibiting debate, imposing conformity, and adopting mechanisms that could be exploited
would profoundly weaken school boards. They would then lose their meaning, their usefulness, and their
legitimacy.
It should be noted that these amendments are being proposed following problems that arose in one or two of
the more than 2,700 governing boards in Quebec. Without minimizing the seriousness of these isolated cases,
the RCPAQ considers that the tools already provided for in the Education Act, when applied with rigor and determination, are sufficient to counter such abuses.
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About the Regroupement des comités de parents autonomes du Québec
The RCPAQ represents parents, Francophones and Anglophones, involved in the public school network of their regions, who represent the families of 200,000 students or 20% of all students in Quebec.
