École Maïmonide () is a

French-language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-Romance, a descendant of the Latin spoken in ...

Jewish day school A Jewish day school is a modern Jewish educational institution that is designed to provide children of Jews, Jewish parents with both a Jewish and a secular education in one school on a full-time basis. The term "day school" is used to differentiat ...

located in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. The school has two campuses: the Parkhaven Campus in

Côte Saint-Luc Côte Saint-Luc () is a city on the Island of Montreal in Quebec, Canada. It is a mostly residential suburb of Montreal, within which it forms an enclave. The city is primarily English-speaking, with a large Jewish community. Geography Côte S ...

and the Jacob Safra Campus in Saint-Laurent.

History

The years between 1950 and 1980 saw the departure of nearly the entire

Jewish community Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

from

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

, mostly to Israel and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, as

Arab nationalism Arab nationalism () is a political ideology asserting that Arabs constitute a single nation. As a traditional nationalist ideology, it promotes Arab culture and civilization, celebrates Arab history, the Arabic language and Arabic literatur ...

and tension between Israel and its neighbours led them to seek refuge elsewhere. Several thousand Moroccan Jews emigrated to

, with immigration reaching its peak between 1965 and 1967 as Canada relaxed its

quotas Quota may refer to: Economics * Import quota, a restriction on the quantity of goods that can be imported into a country * Market Sharing Quota, an economic system used in Canadian agriculture * Milk quota, a quota on milk production in Europe * ...

for North African Jews, and Quebec's

immigration laws Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

began favouring

francophones The French language became an international language, the second international language alongside Latin, in the Middle Ages, "from the fourteenth century onwards". It was not by virtue of the power of the Kingdom of France: '"... until the end ...

. At the time of their arrival, Quebec's confessional school system prohibited Jews from attending

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

schools, relegating them to the English-language

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

public school system A state school, public school, or government school is a primary or secondary school that educates all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in part by taxation and operated by the government of the state. State-funded schools ar ...

. The existing Jewish community, which had historically associated with the anglophone minority, had no French institutions to offer the new immigrants. At its fifteenth plenary session in May 1968, the

Canadian Jewish Congress The Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC; ; ; ) was, for more than ninety years, the main advocacy group for the Jewish community in Canada. Regarded by many as the "Parliament of Canadian Jewry," the Congress was at the forefront of the struggle for Hum ...

committed to assisting the ''Association séfarade francophone'' (the main organization of the francophone Jewish community) in creating a French-language Jewish school in Montreal. A committee representing both groups met with the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

to discuss implementation of the plan. The project was approved, and École Maïmonide founded in 1969, initially operating in a wing of the Catholic Saint Antonin School. The costs were shared by the

Montreal Catholic School Commission The Montreal Catholic School Commission (Commission des écoles catholiques de Montréal, CECM) was a Roman Catholic school district in Montreal, Quebec, Canada which operated both French-language and English-language schools. It was the largest s ...

, Allied Jewish Community Services, and the United Jewish Relief Agencies of Canada. In 1972, the school moved to its own premises in

. In 1990, the school opened its second campus in Saint-Laurent.

Academics

In the 2018

Fraser Institute The Fraser Institute is a Canadian Conservatism in Canada, conservative public policy think tank registered as a Charitable organization, charity. It is headquartered in Vancouver, with additional offices in Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal. It has ...

Quebec secondary school rankings, the Jacob Safra Campus was ranked 44th in the province, while the Parkhaven Campus was ranked 194th (out of 452).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maimonide 1969 establishments in Quebec Côte Saint-Luc Educational institutions established in 1969 Elementary schools in Montreal High schools in Montreal Jewish day schools in Canada Jews and Judaism in Montreal Private schools in Quebec Saint-Laurent, Quebec École