Montreal, Quebec – Dozens of young Chasidic boys were escorted from school in the middle of the day as a Montreal yeshiva was raided by police in an operation led by a youth protective services agency, prompting the school to denounce the action as unnecessary and unfair to the students.
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According to CBC News reports, the raid took place today at a private school allegedly operating without proper permits from the Education Ministry. Approximately 60 children are estimated to attend the yeshiva located at the intersection of Parc Avenue and Beaubien Street in the borough of Rosemont-Le-Petite-Patrie in northwest Montreal.
School officials said that they were already in the process of scheduling a visit from Batshaw Youth and Family Centres and had never refused any request from the agency to see the school.
“We are certainly not very happy with the trauma caused to the kids, which was not in any way necessary given our cooperation with the [youth service] until now,” said board member Hirshber Hirsch.
Hirsch said that the planned visit was to have taken place in “the coming weeks” but that despite today’s events, the school would continue to work with the agency. Neither police nor a spokesperson for the health and social services agency that runs Batshaw would comment on the nature of today’s raid. A spokesperson for the Education Ministry would only say that there is no school registered at the location where the police operation took place.
Prior to removing the children from the building, twelve women, some holding folders, were escorted by police to their cars. Police would not confirm if the women were teachers in the school.
Today’s raid comes as the Outremont borough council moves ahead with a ban that would prevent all new houses of worship on two main streets in the heavily Jewish neighborhood. The Education Ministry has been cracking down recently on illegal schools, with a report surfacing Tuesday about how the Beth Esther Academy, a Chasidic girls school operating illegally in Outremont, was attempting to circumvent provincial law by meeting requirements for home schooled children.
Get your facts straight before you write!!!
It wasn’t a report that surfaced about BETH Esther, rather is was in invitation by Beth Esther to demonstrate to Quebecers the quality of our education, contrary to all prejudice believes out there.
And because you are so ignorant and don’t take the time to research you write that the BETH Esther solution is to CIRCUMVENT THE LAW, how ignorant of you, the Quebec law provides home schooling within the law as an option for education. The BETH Esther solution to become legal by following home schooling in not circumventing, it’s following the existing law.
Now a whole generation can be told stories about Yiddin and Nazis like police Goyim. Why is it that the Chadidish Yeshivas struggle to follow the rules? My Chasidish friend pointed out that as soon as he reached the Chasidish area in Outremont it was overbuilt and messy-just like Monsey.
Just to clarify the term illegal as it’s referred to the school in this article.
These schools aren’t illegal as per zoning laws or fire safety issues etc.
In Quebec the ministry of education doesn’t recognize these schools as sufficient secular educators, therefore the child safety Dept. Gets involved to assure all children get a proper education. The dispute between the religious schools and the education Dept. Is how much time in a week should be dedicated for secular studies.
The US needs to do this.
#3, thank you for clarifying, because in Monsey illegal yeshiva means taking a house, knocking down a couple of walls, dropping some trailers in the yard and bringing in teen age boys who sleep in that same house and spend many hours of the day smoking in the yard. Great neighbors to have.
if only our own government here would have the guts to do the same thing,some of our own chasidic schools don’t give their students the minimum secular education they would need to function in a normal society,and are therefore condemned to a life of misery and poverty and literally forced to steal and cheat and break laws in order to survive with their large families
And now Heeerrreee comes Donald !!!
I am not against the Government getting involved, however, I read another article in the French press in Quebec, and it named some of the officials involved. Two of the names I saw were Arab names!! I realize that many of the Arabs who went to Quebec work for the Govt. They are not all bad, however, where there is smoke, there is —-!!
#7 mr.julios streicher or mr. tromp logig compering the chasidic ortotodox society socialy econominicly they are mach more hygher to any modern or secoler society bchasdei h. we are strong and advancing if ca t take it l….it
Chassidishe schools in Montreal all teach the curriculum mandated by the Ministry of Education. Some schools are choosing to register the children as being home-schooled to circumvent the often onerous requirements of hours and days and certifications demanded by the Ministry in order to qualify for funding. The children are still required to write the same exams at the end of the year!
To the poster who accused the chassidim of messing up Outremont = Ignorance personified! Outremont is a very upper-class borough that has very strict building laws. You cannot change your front door without approval from the municipality! The mostly duplex and triplex properties are all around a hundred years old and are built with a unique Outremont “cachet” that is prized by house hunters in the area.