#Canada #Quebec – Loyola High School, a 130-year-old Jesuit Catholic institution in Montreal, announced on September 4th, 2026, that it would reject provincial subsidies rather than alter core elements of its religious mission under Quebec’s expanded secularism law.
School officials said Bill 9, adopted in April 2026, required subsidized private schools to comply with new rules, including restricting religious practices, or lose public funding. Provisions affecting school subsidies were scheduled to take effect in 2029. Loyola stated that those rules would have forced it to change fundamental aspects of how it carried out its Jesuit Catholic identity in classrooms, chapel, and daily school life.
In a letter to the school community, President Fouad Maroun and Board of Governors Chair Patrick M. Shea wrote that retaining public funding would have required changes the school could not accept. “We concluded that we cannot make those changes and remain faithful to who we are,” the letter said.
The decision followed months of review. Officials formed a committee after the bill was introduced in late 2025, surveyed nearly 1,500 community members, and commissioned an independent financial feasibility study. Community feedback emphasized two priorities: protecting the school’s mission and keeping it financially accessible.
Forgoing the subsidy created an estimated annual funding gap of about $7,500 per student. Officials said that would have pushed total fees from $12,530 to between $20,000 and $21,000. To avoid becoming a school only affluent families could afford, the board authorized a capital campaign to grow the endowment and substantially increase financial aid.
The announcement continued a longer history of tension between Catholic schools and the Quebec government over religious education. In 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the province had infringed on the school’s religious freedom by requiring it to teach its Ethics and Religious Culture program from a strictly neutral, non-Catholic perspective.
Loyola, founded in 1896 and long associated with the Jesuits, had recently become co-educational and reported record application numbers in recent years. Officials scheduled a public information session for mid-September 2026 to discuss the transition. The school said it planned to become fully independent when the relevant provisions of the law take effect in 2029.
Cover Image: Loyola High School in Montreal, Quebec.
