Quebec has quietly tolerated evangelical schools that are not recognized by and do not have permits from the province's Ministry of Education.

That leaves as many as 4,000 current students without provincially recognized diplomas if and when they graduate from the schools, Radio-Canada has learned. Radio-Canada is the CBC's French-language service.

Claude Grant, a lawyer who represents l'Association des églises évangéliques du Québec, estimates 20 such schools teach a Bible-based curriculum to up to 4,000 elementary and high school students throughout the province.

At least two such schools operate in the Outaouais region, teaching about 100 students between them. Most of the students are from Gatineau or from Saint-André-Avellin in the Petite-Nation region.

The students who attend classes at L'Eglise Nouvelle Alliance are among 4000 students a such evangelical schools in Quebec who will not receive diplomas recognized by the province when they graduate.
(SRC)

Charles Boucher, a Pentecostal minister at l'Église Nouvelle Alliance in Gatineau, on Tuesday had a Radio-Canada reporter visit the school affiliated with the church.

About 40 students attend inside a modest grey church building. Several classrooms within are lined with white cupboards and library-style carrels.

Calls teachings 'anti-biblical'

Boucher said schools like his are a response to the immoral curriculum at public schools.

"Certain teachings that are conveyed there are anti-biblical," he said in French to a Radio-Canada reporter.

The schools teach a religiously-based curriculum, including creationism instead of evolution.
(SRC)

He gave teachings on sexual education and evolution as examples. His school teaches creationism instead of evolution as the origin of different types of plants and animals.

Boucher said his school's education is based on an American program and uses books from the U.S.

Complaint filed last year

The Coeur-des-Vallées school board in the Outaouais region filed a complaint with the Ministry of Education about the religious schools last year.

The ministry declined to be interviewed by Radio-Canada for this story.

However, Grant said the province is aware of the schools and is discussing with them how to bring them under regulation.

Claude Grant, a lawyer representing l'Association des Eglises évangliques du Québec, says Quebec tolerates the schools because they recognize that the schools are trying to preserve a cultural heritage.
(SRC)

He said discussions have been going on for at least 15 years, and he showed a reporter some of the binders containing the schools' correspondence with the ministry.

The ministry has not yet given the schools the permits required for them to operate legally.

But nor has it taken any action against the schools, Grant said. He suggested there is an explanation for that.

"It's because they are aware that we want to preserve a cultural heritage in a way," he said, "and there is a void left by the secularization of the education system."