Parent Commission

The Royal Commission of Inquiry on Education in the Province of Quebec, better known as the Parent Commission, was a commission established in 1961 by the newly elected Lesage government to investigate the education system in Quebec up until the 1960s. It was chaired by M^gr Alphonse-Marie Parent, and consisted of 8 members. The resulting report, the Parent Report, published between 1963-66 in 5 volumes, consisted of nearly 1500 pages, and proposed some 500 recommendations that led to following major reforms of the then church-dominated education system:

• Creation of the Ministry of Education in 1964 to ensure a centralised, state-controlled education system serving the mass population;
• Creation of the Conseil supérieur de l’éducation in 1964 to advise the Minister of Education on any education-related issues;
• Age for compulsory schooling raised from 14 to 16;
• Creation of collèges d’enseignement général et professionnel (CEGEPs) in 1967 to replace classical colleges administered by the Roman Catholic clergy;

The Parent Commission, as a product of the Quiet Revolution, helped to create one public, unified, comprehensive, democratic, education system accessible to everyone at all levels, which in turn helped to reduce disparities between men and women, urban and rural, English and French populations.