The 95% Illusion: Decoding Quebec's School Safety Paradox

QUEBEC CITY, QC – August 20, 2026 – A press release landed this week with a refreshingly positive headline: 95% of Quebec’s secondary school students feel safe. The survey, conducted for the non-profit Humanity Index, offers a powerful counter-narrative to a public discourse often fixated on bullying and violence in the classroom. "This is a decidedly positive finding," declared Pierre Côté, the organization's founder, suggesting the data allows us to "put things into perspective" and that "schools are doing a good job."

On the surface, the numbers are indeed encouraging. Of 514 students surveyed, 43% feel "always" safe and another 52% feel safe "most of the time." In a world saturated with negative news, this feels like a win. But in the business of analysis, a single, simple number—especially one that runs counter to prevailing sentiment—is never the end of the story. It’s the beginning. It’s a signal that demands we look deeper, not at the number itself, but at the intent and context behind it. And when we do, the simple picture of safety fractures into a far more complex and revealing mosaic.

A Tale of Two Realities

The central conflict is stark. The Humanity Index’s 95% safety figure stands in jarring opposition to a vast body of data painting a much more troubled picture of student life. A 2022 study by the Institut de la statistique du Québec (ISQ) found that nearly 28% of secondary school students had experienced bullying or cyberbullying in the previous year. Research from PREVNet, a national anti-bullying authority, consistently places the figure for students experiencing bullying at over 25%. More alarmingly, a 2025 report indicated that 71% of Canadian youth aged 12-17 had encountered some form of bullying in the past year, with a staggering three-quarters of them feeling unsupported by teachers.

How can a school environment be 95% safe while simultaneously seeing more than a quarter of its occupants experience regular bullying? The answer lies in the question. The Humanity Index asked a simple, broad question: "Do you feel safe at your school?" It’s a question of general feeling, a vibe check. Other studies, by contrast, ask about specific, granular experiences: Have you been called names? Have you been excluded? Have you been threatened online? A student can feel generally "safe" from overt physical harm while still enduring the daily psychological grind of social exclusion or digital harassment—forms of torment that other data suggest are rampant.

This discrepancy doesn’t invalidate the Humanity Index's finding, but it re-frames it. The 95% figure may be a measure of perceived ambient security, not an all-clear on the deep-seated issues that define a school's social climate. It tells us that for the most part, students don't walk the halls in fear for their physical well-being. It tells us little about their social or emotional health.

The Signal in the Noise

To understand the intent behind the survey, one must look at the organization that commissioned it. The Humanity Index, founded by the same man who created the Léger Happiness Index, is in the business of measuring and improving social health. This survey is not merely an academic exercise; it’s the overture for its new initiative, the "Being Human in Secondary Schools" project, which is now being offered to schools across Quebec.

The project aims to analyze student behaviors and interpersonal skills, providing schools with a "portrait of their social climate." The press release thus functions as a brilliant piece of strategic marketing. It leads with an overwhelmingly positive statistic that flatters its target clients—the schools—telling them they are "doing a good job." This builds goodwill and lowers defensive barriers. But it also subtly introduces the problem their product is meant to solve. By highlighting that safety is the "most important" factor in a school's social climate, it positions their new project as an essential tool for maintaining and improving that very metric. The survey is both the diagnosis of health and the sales pitch for the wellness plan.

This is a classic strategic maneuver: define the metric of success, release data showing your audience is already succeeding by that metric, and then offer a tool to help them succeed even more. The intent is not to deceive, but to persuade. The 95% figure is the hook, designed to capture attention and reframe the conversation on the Humanity Index's own terms, positioning them as a positive partner rather than a critical auditor.

Cracks in the Facade

Even within its own optimistic data, the survey reveals telling fissures. The sense of safety dips among Secondary 3 students (to 91%) and French-speaking students (to 93%). While these are small deviations, they are significant because they align perfectly with external warning signs. Secondary 3, or Grade 9, is a notoriously difficult year. It’s an age of intense social pressure and identity formation, and multiple studies confirm that students' sense of belonging and well-being often hits a low point in the mid-teens. The rise in psychological distress calls from Quebec teens, reported by Tel-jeunes in 2025, is part of this same trend.

More concerning is the dip among French-speaking students. While the survey doesn't offer an explanation, it’s impossible to ignore recent government interventions into multiple French-language schools in Montreal following reports of a "toxic climate," including allegations of physical and psychological violence by staff against students. This context suggests the 93% figure may be masking deeper, more localized crises.

Perhaps the most glaring omission from this student-centric view of safety is the experience of teachers. A 2025 survey from the Fédération autonome de l'enseignement (FAE) union was catastrophic: 90% of its members reported experiencing some form of violence at work. How can we meaningfully discuss school safety when the adults in the room are under siege? A school is an ecosystem, and a climate that is hazardous for educators cannot, by any reasonable definition, be considered truly safe for the students they are meant to guide and protect. This disconnect reveals the danger of relying on a single data point. The students may feel safe, but the system is showing signs of extreme stress.

Redefining the 'Safe School'

Ultimately, the Humanity Index survey is a valuable contribution, not because it provides a definitive answer, but because it forces a more critical question: What do we mean by "safe"? If we define it merely as the absence of immediate physical threat, then Quebec schools are, by and large, succeeding. But if we define it more holistically—as an environment free from psychological distress, social exclusion, and systemic stress, where both students and teachers can thrive—then the 95% figure begins to look less like a conclusion and more like a dangerously comforting illusion.

The real work lies beyond celebrating a headline. It's in reconciling the student who feels "mostly" safe with the one who is silently cyberbullied. It's in supporting the teacher who faces daily verbal abuse while trying to create a positive learning environment. The move toward Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) programs in Quebec schools is a tacit acknowledgment of this more complex reality. The goal isn't just to prevent bad behavior but to actively cultivate empathy, resilience, and healthy relationships.

While the "Being Human" project may offer a piece of this puzzle, the data shows that the puzzle is far larger and more intricate than a single survey can capture. A truly safe school is not just a place where students don't feel afraid; it's a place where they feel seen, supported, and connected.