This item was reported by several local news agencies yesterday.
Quebec schools may close Monday amid incoming heatwave
Published:
Education Minister Bernard Drainville during question period on May 6, 2025. (The Canadian Press/Jacques Boissino)
Quebec Education Minister Bernard Drainville has instructed school service centres across the province to implement measures to mitigate the effects of the incoming heatwave on Monday.
In a post on social media, the minister said schools should close if necessary. “Several school service centres are in action,” he wrote.
Drainville also shared a letter from assistant deputy minister Stéphanie Vachon, which reiterated his message.
“We understand that many of you have already shared recommendations from your regional public health authorities with school administrators,” Vachon wrote. “In this context, we encourage you to implement any preventive measures you deem necessary to ensure the safety of all.”
Humidex values are expected to exceed 40 degrees Celsius over the next several days.
To continue reading, visit https://www.ctvnews.ca/montreal/article/quebec-schools-may-close-monday-amid-incoming-heatwave/
The fact that it is the very end of the school year – with only days left really – may have something to do with the only possible option that was presented was outright closure. However, this also highlights a reality from the pandemic that continues to persist in Canadian schools – and, in particular, in Quebec following the Karounis c. Procureur Général du Québec decision.
As we described during the pandemic, schools and school system should have progressed through the four stages below. All schools experienced Phase 1 – it was the “oh crap” moment when schools closed abruptly and everyone scrambled to provide some measure of continuity of learning. Phase 2 was where the vast majority of schools and systems transitioned to (and ended) the pandemic – a stage where teachers, students, and parents/guardians were beginning to explore what these remote tools had to offer and how they could be used more effectively than simply replicating the traditional classroom through “Zoom school.” Phase 3 should have been a stage where the system had the time to prepare all of its stakeholders to be in a position where on Friday afternoon an announcement could come out over the PA that school would be going remote on Monday morning and that it simply happened – with no impact to the continuity of learning or the quality of instruction.
Some individuals teachers, maybe even a few schools, may have achieved Phase 3 – but by and large schools and school systems did not. If Canadian schools had actually been able to move into Phase 3 during the pandemic, the system would now be in a position to accommodation short-terms disruptions – such as the disruption experienced due to excessive heat.
Essentially, there was no Phase 4 in Canadian schools (and, again, in particular in Quebec with the Karounis c. Procureur Général du Québec decision. Instead of moving into a Phase 4 state, Canadian schools simply reverted to a pre-pandemic state (or a Phase 0 – if you will).