The Long Road to Reform: Restructuring Public Education in Quebec

Ashley Thomson is a full librarian at Laurentian University and co-editor or co-author of nine books, most recently Margaret Atwood: A Reference Guide, 1988-2005.

As a member of the Parti Québeçois, Henry Milner observed Camille Laurin’s attempts, beginning in 1982, to dismantle the historic system of confessional education in Quebec. The proposed replacement, a system of school boards divided on regional lines, with individual schools having considerable autonomy through councils composed of parent and teacher representatives, was consistent with the PQ’s democratic philosophy. None the less, the plan failed, partly because of the organized opposition from existing confessional boards.

In 1984, Laurin was shuffled out of the education portfolio, and his successor, Yves Bérubé, produced a very scaled-down version of Laurin’s original law. Passed in December 1984, the law was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Quebec in May 1985. Shortly thereafter, the PQ itself fell victim to the electorate’s displeasure, and the education system the party tried to dismantle remained intact.

One would think that Milner’s PQ bias would distort this work unmercifully. In fact, it is his training in political science — he now teaches the subject at Montreal’s Vanier College — which seems to have enabled him to detach himself sufficiently from events to produce this sophisticated yet marvellously readable analysis.

Thus, the book can be recommended not exclusively to those interested in Quebec education, but more broadly, to those fascinated by politics who are in search of a text that tells them how things really work.