The Montreal Catholic School Commission announed today that a seventh-grade teacher in a Catholic school, who had compared Hitler to Jesus as “a great leader” and decorated his classroom with a photograph of Hitler and Nazi symbols, had been “removed” from his post after an investigation of his activities. The Commission said it had also “removed” the principal of the school and the district director.
The teacher, Brother Rene Lahaie, 22, had organized his class of 11-year-old boys into Taxi-type military cadres, including “SS men.” The Catholic School Commission said today that the use of the Nazi symbols introduced by the teacher had been discontinued because “the method was condemnable.” At the time the investigation was started, three weeks ago, Jean-Marie Mathieue, the Commission’s director of teaching, said that the teacher’s “intentions were good” although he conceded the practice was “open to criticism.” Brother Asselin, director of the school, expressed “surprise” at the sudden interest in the teacher’s methods, declaring that hundreds of parents had visited the school without objecting.
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