Schools can offer Catholic and Protestant religious instruction until then, but the law stipulates that a school may decide to replace it with an ecumenical program before that time.
Even faith-based private schools will have to offer the new program as of 2008. They may continue to offer confessional instruction, but only as an additional course, the minister’s press attaché told the Montreal newspaper.
Education Minister Jean-Marc Fournier presented Bill 95 in May, saying that it would better respond to “the current social challenges and the needs of Quebec youth today.”
However, parents and citizens groups, and the Assembly of Quebec Catholic Bishops rallied against the bill. A committee in favor of maintaining religious instruction in public schools submitted a petition of more than 60,000 signatures to the provincial government.
At the beginning of June, the citizens’ committee and the Quebec bishops also presented a brief to a parliamentary hearing committee, which had been set up to hold public consultations on the bill.
The bishops said confessional instruction in public schools should be maintained because religious instruction is an important part of a child’s formation. Christianity is also a significant aspect of Quebec heritage and children must learn about it in school. They also argued that the new program would likely conflict with the values Christian parents are teaching their children at home.