Premier Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, who allocated $28 million to address homelessness, should invest just as much to combat school violence, a union says.
“It’s urgent in Quebec,” said Éric Pronovost, president of the Federation of School Support Staff (FPSS-CSQ), at a news conference in Quebec City on Monday.
Nearly 30,000 incidents of violence were recorded during the 2025-2026 school year, according to figures compiled by the FPSS-CSQ.
The number of incidents has reportedly been steadily increasing for several years.
Punches, bites and objects being thrown: at the elementary school level, staff are now being encouraged to purchase protective equipment, such as arm guards and shin guards, Pronovost said.
“We don’t need goalkeepers in Quebec!” the union leader lamented, accusing school administrators of trying to downplay the situation.
At the high school level, violence is reportedly more “subtle,” including sexual violence and threats directed at staff and their families, he explained.
Special education technicians, school educators, special needs student attendants and student supervisors are reportedly among those most affected.
The number of days of work missed due to absences also doubled between the 2020-2021 and 2024-2025 school years, rising from 76,200 to 152,000, according to figures presented by the FPSS-CSQ on Monday.
Pronovost is urging the Parti Québécois government to address the problem by injecting an additional $28 million into schools this fall.
“I believe new funding needs to be invested in the education system,” he said. The FPSS-CSQ is calling, in particular, for more staff to be hired.
The union is also demanding “more prevention, (…) rapid interventions, support for victims and students, and a standardized system for collecting incident data.”
What about the action plan introduced by the Coalition Avenir Québec government in 2023? Pronovost is categorical: it has accomplished nothing.
“The plan boils down to posters on walls, and we haven’t hired more special education technicians, special needs student attendants or student supervisors.
“It’s all well and good to have a prevention plan for a week and to discuss these issues, but for years, nothing has been implemented in schools,” he denounced.
Pronovost says he expects concrete action from the new government.
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
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