STATEMENT: Move toward stronger cellphone restrictions in Québec schools puts student well-being to the forefront

Statement on behalf of Noni Classen, Director of Education and Support Services


For Immediate Release

The Québec government has announced additional restrictions on cellphone use by students in schools starting next fall. Mounting evidence about the harmful effects of excessive cellphone use on student learning, well-being, and online safety justifies the need for this type of decisive action by our elected leaders.

The Canadian Centre for Child Protection gives its full support for these new measures announced yesterday by Québec’s education minister, Bernard Drainville.

Previously, restrictions on personal cellphones use in Québec schools applied only to classrooms. The new restrictions will now be further extended to school grounds.

Far from digital abstinence, these policies recognize and send a strong message that not all technology uses are of equal quality, nor are they appropriate in all contexts. These are crucial steps to help model and promote healthy digital habits for children across Canada — habits that will serve them well into their lives, making them less vulnerable to online harms.

In addition to our support, we recognize that public opinion polling shows a strong majority of citizens, parents and teachers both in Canada and abroad support these measures as well. The Fédération des syndicats de l'enseignement du Québec consulted its members on the implementation of cellphone restrictions in 2025 and found more than 76% of its members supported school-wide restrictions. In addition, many educators and teacher groups outside of Québec have reported improvements in classroom learning and attention since a wave of cellphone restrictions took effect across Canada last year.

We hope this initiative will also pave the way for stronger technology-use policies in schools and digital literacy curricula in classrooms. We look forward to working with and supporting Québec and other provincial and territorial governments to help ensure that schools are safe places where children learn and thrive.

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About the Canadian Centre for Child Protection: The Canadian Centre for Child Protection (C3P) is a national charity dedicated to the personal safety of all children. The organization’s goal is to reduce the sexual abuse and exploitation of children through programs, services, and resources for Canadian families, educators, child-serving organizations, law enforcement, and other parties. C3P also operates Cybertip.ca, Canada’s national tipline to report child sexual abuse and exploitation on the internet, and Project Arachnid, a web platform designed to detect known images of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on the clear and dark web and issue removal notices to industry.

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