Quebec higher education minister intervenes in Dawson College course on Palestinian culture
Pascale Déry, formerly a CIJA-Quebec board member, accused of conflict of interest
Quebec Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry says she intervened at Dawson College, asking the institution to avoid speaking about sensitive topics during a French-language course about Palestinian culture.
"I indeed intervened on the content of a course," she said at a Tuesday news scrum at the National Assembly.
"For a good and simple reason, that the context was truly explosive. We really had tensions on campus, as we've known in the past few months."
The teachers' union disputes Déry's view on Dawson's ability to tackle sensitive subjects in the classroom.
"I think that it's a mischaracterization that the climate at Dawson is explosive," said Antonia Fikkert, the secretary treasurer of the Dawson Teachers' Union.
Avoiding topics because they are sensitive or can lead to disagreement is "really dangerous for an institution of higher learning," she said.
Déry's intervention comes as her ministry is investigating Dawson and Vanier colleges. The investigation is looking into allegations of a toxic climate over the Israel-Hamas war.
The Fédération nationale des enseignantes et des enseignants du Québec, a provincial teachers' union, says Déry is in a conflict of interest.
Before she was elected, she served as a member of the board at the Quebec branch of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA).
Reporters asked Déry about the federation's claims on Tuesday.
"The question we'd like to ask them, that I'd like to know, is what they are referring to when they say Minister Déry is in conflict of interest," she replied.
Noah Brender, a humanities professor at Dawson, said the minister is avoiding tough questions through deflection.
"And my answer is that the appearance of conflict is between the minister's political position on Israel and her duties as minister of higher education," he said.
Québec Solidaire introduced a motion at Quebec's National Assembly, condemning all forms of political interference in CEGEP classrooms.
The motion was supported by the Liberal Party and the Parti Québécois, but the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) majority voted against it.
In a statement, Sol Zanetti, Québec Solidaire's spokesperson for higher education, accused the CAQ of breaking the consensus on academic freedom.
"Politics should not interfere with course content, and the independence of education must be preserved. This should be obvious," he said in the statement.
CBC News sent an interview request to CIJA and got a statement instead. It says it has been calling on Montreal police, all levels of government and academic institutions to take concrete action against the hate, toxicity and antisemitism on campuses.
"Students have been clear about the unacceptable situation they are experiencing," the statement says.
The higher education minister's investigation is one step, but "much more action is necessary to address what we see happening in our schools and on our streets," it says.
As for Déry, she said she won't be making any further comments until she has the investigation's report.
Written by Isaac Olson, with files from Gloria Henriquez