Filing a complaint with the Ministère de l’Éducation

The Ministère de l'Éducation is committed to providing high-quality services. If you are dissatisfied with an administrative service you received, a program in which you participated or a decision made by the Ministère, you can file a complaint.

If you are dissatisfied with the services that were or should have been provided by your private school, school service centre (SSC), English language school board or special-status school board (SB), you must first contact the institution or organization directly. All SSCs, SBs and private educational institutions have a three-step provincial procedure in place for examining complaints.

For more information, please also consult the File a complaint if you are dissatisfied with a school serviceweb page of the National Student Ombudsman (NSO). Parents and students are encouraged to contact the NSO if an issue related to school services occurs, or if a student experiences a situation that could affect their health, safety or well-being.

Disclosure

For more information on disclosing sexual misconduct or inappropriate behaviour in the school network, consult the Report an act of sexual violence against a student web page of the National Student Ombudsman.

If you are dissatisfied with a service the Ministère has provided, you can file a complaint with the Service des renseignements généraux et des plaintes, which will ensure it is processed. Contact information for this service:

• 418-646-5324, ext. 6023  or  1-866-643-4806, ext. 6023 (toll-free)
• Complaints form

If your complaint is about a decision, orientation, regulation or service offered by a private or public educational institution, you should consult the File a complaint if you are dissatisfied with a school service web page.

The Ministère can process complaints concerning the following services:

• follow-up on a general request for information
• certificates of eligibility for instruction in English
• issuing of proof of studies at the secondary level
• issuing of teaching licences
• financial support for athletes and coaches in Québec’s sports community
• monitoring of homeschooling
• development, administration and marking of ministerial examinations
• protection of personal information

Processing of the complaint

If you file a complaint using the complaints form, you will receive an acknowledgement of receipt with a file number. Please keep this number on hand so you can follow up on your file.

If you file a complaint by mail, the Service des renseignements généraux will send you an acknowledgement of receipt within five days following receipt of the complaint.

If necessary, someone will contact you to obtain any additional information required to process your file. Your complaint will then be forwarded to the appropriate administrative unit at the Ministère. You will receive the results of the examination of your complaint within a maximum of 20 working days.

Right to access information and have it corrected

You have the right to consult information that you have provided in filing your complaint and to ask for the correction of any inaccurate, incomplete or ambiguous information.

To do so, please contact the Service des renseignements généraux et des plaintes:

• 418-646-5324, ext. 6023  
• 1-866-643-4806, ext. 6023 (toll-free)

If you are dissatisfied with the response to your complaint, you can contact the office of the Protecteur du citoyen. It can also receive complaints concerning the Ministère's activities and services.

Complaints regarding services provided by a public or a private school, a school service centre or a school board

If you are dissatisfied with how your complaint was assessed or with its outcome, you can contact your regional student ombudsman. For more information, please consult the National Student Ombudsman web page (in French only).