The head of Montreal’s largest French school board is calling for changes at Elections Quebec, after an alleged incident at an advanced polling station.
Montreal police are searching for a Caucasian man in his 70s who they allege followed a teenager into a washroom during advance polling at a high school on Monday.
The alleged incident happened shortly after 10 a.m. at Louis-Riel High School in Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve.
The chair of the Commission Scolaire de Montréal (CSDM), Catherine Harel-Bourdon, told Global News that normally, schools have pedagogical days during voting hours.
“The DGE asked us for another day in the week for advanced polling and we can’t say no,” explained Harel-Bourdon.
Harel-Bourdon says there is already security in place at schools, but she wants Elections Quebec to only have voting at schools on weekends, or during ped days.
Investigators say the 13-year-old boy sensed that he was being followed, took refuge inside a washroom and locked himself inside one of the stalls.
He told police the man followed him into the washroom and repeatedly solicited sexual favours.
There was no reported physical contact.
Police say the teen told the man to leave and when he did, the teen reported the incident to school authorities who then called 911.
Classes were in session during advance polling and according to Montreal police spokesperson Jean-Pierre Brabant, they think the suspect may have been at the school to vote.
“We’re doing an investigation on it to try to identify that person,” he told Global News.
“We’ve met with this little boy, but so far we don’t have a good description of that man.”
The teen says he didn’t get a good look at the suspect, but police hope video surveillance footage from the school will help find the man.
The CSDM says it will contact Elections Quebec to try and come up with a solution.
“Security of the children in our schools is our top priority,” the CSDM told Global News in a statement.
The CSDM argues voting days should not occur during regular class hours.
“It disrupts the smooth running of school’s regular schedule and has an impact on the schoolchildren’s education,” the school board insisted.
“The provincial election date is determined several months in advance. To avoid such situations, it would be possible to plan polling stations in many other places than schools, such as community and elder centers or, if in our schools, on weekends only.”
Elections Quebec refused to comment on the alleged incident, saying they want to let the police do their work.
Officials did tell Global News in a statement that they are working with authorities to ensure adequate security measures at polling stations.