On January 18, 2022, Québec Ombudsperson Marie Rinfret presented a brief to the Committee on Culture and Education concerning Bill 9 – Act respecting the National Student Ombudsman.
The bill proposes the creation of an autonomous body, independent from the school system and covering all of Québec. The body will be headed by a National Student Ombudsman who coordinates and supervises the new players introduced in the bill (regional student ombudsmen).
The bill responds to most of the recommendations of a report by the Protecteur du citoyen on the subject. The 2017 report advocated the impartiality, transparency and accessibility of the complaint processing mechanism. Overall, the Québec Ombudsperson is satisfied with the bill.
However, as Ms. Rinfret sees it, improvements must still be made in order to, among other things:
- Do more to make parents and students aware of the complaint processing procedure;
- Improve the process for appointing a person in charge of complaints in private educational institutions;
- Give additional powers to the National Ombudsman and regional ombudsmen;
- Enhance the main players’ accountability.
The Québec Ombudsperson made 18 recommendations to the Committee on Culture and Education.
Brief by the Québec Ombudsperson concerning Bill 9 (PDF, 385 KiB, in French only)
