The Ministère de l'Éducation (MEQ) is committed to providing quality services and, in order to constantly improve them, it takes into account suggestions and comments from the public.
If you are dissatisfied with the service you received, a program in which you participated or a decision taken by MEQ, you can file a complaint.
Lodging a complaint
If you are not satisfied with services the MEQ has provided, you may lodge a complaint with the Direction de l’accès à l’information et des plaintes (DAIP), which will forward it to the person responsible for the services in question.
Complaints that are not processed by the MEQ
- Services provided by public and private educational institutions (schools, colleges, universities, school service centres, school boards): If you are not satisfied with services you have received from one of these organizations, you must contact it directly. All school service centres and school boards have a procedure in place for examining complaints.
- Matters under the responsibility of any other ministry, organization or body.
- A case before the courts.
- An access-to-information request
concerning a document.
- An anonymous complaint or hateful or offensive comments.
If you wish to make a comment or request information, you must fill out an electronic form or else contact Renseignements généraux, the MEQ unit responsible for providing general information.
Processing of the complaint
- If you file a complaint using an electronic form
, you will receive an acknowledgment of receipt and a file number. Please keep this number to facilitate follow-up.
- If you file a complaint by fax or regular mail, the DAIP will send you an acknowledgment of receipt within five days following receipt of the complaint.
- If you use any of these means of communication, you must provide your last name, first name and telephone number and a description of your complaint. If you are a student, you must also provide your permanent code. If you are a parent who is making a complaint on behalf of your child, you must provide your child's last name, first name and permanent code. This information is required to process your complaint appropriately.
- If required, someone will contact you to obtain any additional information needed to process your file.
- Your complaint will then be forwarded to the appropriate MEQ administrative unit.
- We will inform you of the results of the examination of your complaint within 28 calendar days.
- If you are dissatisfied with the response to your complaint, you can ask that the DAIP review it. You will receive an acknowledgment of receipt and a response, in accordance with the above procedure.
In order to protect the confidentiality of documents and information, we suggest that you not use emails to communicate with the administrative units responsible for processing your complaint, as this communication method is not secure and may not protect confidentiality.
Access to and correction of information
Under the Act respecting Access to documents held by public bodies and the Protection of personal information, you are entitled to consult information that you have provided as part of your complaint and to ask for correction of any inaccurate, incomplete or equivocal information. To do so, please contact the DAIP.
You remain dissatisfied with the response obtained?
If you remain dissatisfied with the response obtained, the Québec Ombudsman can also receive complaints concerning MEQ activities and services.
Complaints about services provided by an educational institution
If you are dissatisfied with the services that your school service centre or school board has, or should have, provided, you must contact the authorities at the centre or board itself. All school service centres and school boards have a complaints process in place.
Student ombudsman
Refer to the Student Ombudsman page for more information.
Last update: November 26, 2021