Quebec schools struggle to meet mandatory CPR training requirements

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training in Quebec secondary schools is reportedly not being consistently implemented despite being a requirement since 2017. Because the training is not integrated into a specific mandatory curriculum within the Quebec school training program, it remains at the discretion of individual teachers.

Raynald Hawkins, director of the Société de sauvetage du Québec, noted that many teachers view the training as an additional task to be added to their existing workload. While some educators offer the training voluntarily, the Société de sauvetage du Québec estimates that only 60,000 to 68,000 young people receive CPR training annually.

Although the Minister of Education has prescribed mandatory CPR training for all third-year secondary students in annual instruction documents, the lack of formal curricular integration remains a barrier to universal compliance.