SOPHIE DEMERS
LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE

QUEBEC – Sonia LeBel, president of the Conseil du trésor, announced a public sector hiring freeze in late October. In effect at the beginning of November, institutions and organizations can now only fill positions from within; no outside recruitment is permitted. Although originally it seemed this wouldn’t affect school boards, that’s not the case.

The hiring freeze applies to professional, support and supervisory staff who don’t provide “direct services” to students; teachers aren’t included.

The Conseil du trésor stated the reason for the freeze was “…to curb the growth in the number of employees in the public service and respect budgets allocated for the current year.”

According to the Centre de service scolaire des Hauts-Bois-de-l’Outaouais (CSSHBO), schools are allowed to request an exemption to fill positions externally if the absence of recruitment results in a service interruption.

“We’re doing everything we can to limit the repercussions, notably by reorganizing work and optimizing available resources. The hiring freeze represents a challenge but we remain committed to offering the best possible services,” said CSSHBO in a press release.

The Western Quebec School Board (WQSB) is also affected. George Singfield, WQSB director general, said the bigger impact is on the board office and less so on the schools because staff in schools provide direct services to students. This also means that if a staff member whose position falls under this freeze goes out on maternity leave, they cannot be replaced.

The Fédération du personnel de soutien scolaire (CSQ), the only federation that exclusively represents school support staff in schools and service centers, denounces the public service freeze:

“Not only is the Ministry of Education not able to identify which job classes will be considered ‘direct services to students,’ it will also create an expert review committee with a mission to establish a list of staff who can no longer be recruited. The Ministry hypocritically assures us this freeze will have no impact, or almost no impact on students. They must have a very poor understanding of the education network to make such a statement.”

The Quebec Treasury Board has yet to announce an end date for the hiring freeze​.