Researchers accuse Quebec of censoring health-care training that mentioned systemic racism
'It is political interference,' says researcher involved in project
The Quebec government scrapped a training program designed to fight racism in the health-care system after learning that its content made reference to the existence of systemic racism, Radio-Canada has learned.
"For us, it's censorship," said Lilyane Rachédi, a professor at the School of Social Work at Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) who worked on the program for more than a year before it was suddenly dropped last December.
The training was commissioned by the Health Ministry (MSSS) just over a year after the death of Joyce Echaquan at a hospital north of Montreal in Joliette, Que.
Rachédi said the work for the project was completed, but the training was never presented to health-care staff.
The program contained four interactive video modules of about 10 minutes each. The researchers say the ministry asked them to withdraw a passage referring to systemic racism, and they refused.
"What is worrisome is that a government is asking researchers to carry out this operation of erasing realities justified by sound scientific research," Rachédi said.
CAQ government steps in
A document obtained by Radio-Canada shows that the Ministry of the Executive Council (MCE) — which is overseen by Premier François Legault — weighed in during the training development process. This prompted the office of Health Minister Christian Dubé to express reservations since the training's content went against the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government's public messaging.
For years, Legault has denied that systemic racism exists in Quebec.
According to another document, corroborated by witness accounts, the ministry asked to remove any mention of systemic racism in the training material.
Radio-Canada has agreed to not specify the nature of these documents or reproduce their exact content in order to protect the identity of its sources.
The MCE told Radio-Canada it did not object to the training's content, and said it is the Health Ministry's responsibility to determine the programs it prioritizes and distributes to personnel.
Antoine de la Durantaye, a spokesperson for the provincial health minister, acknowledged that "legitimate questions were asked about certain elements of the training," but not so far as to ask for their removal.
"Let's be clear, the minister's office never asked to halt any training regarding the fight against racism in the health network," the spokesperson said.
'Strong and coherent government message'
In a letter dated Dec. 8, 2022, assistant deputy health minister Daniel Desharnais, asks Lawrence Rosenberg, the president and CEO of the CIUSSS du Centre-Ouest-de-l'Île-de-Montréal, the regional health authority for the centre-west region of the Montreal island, to halt work on the training.
According to a document obtained by Radio-Canada, the senior official explains that the MCE developed its own training that would be given to all government employees.
"It is clear that the training project specific to the health and social services network and the one carried out by the MCE presents disparities on several levels," he wrote.
"Consequently, and with the objective of maintaining a strong and coherent government message on the fight against racism, the MSSS favours the dissemination of a unique training, namely one being developed by the MCE."
In a second reply to Radio-Canada questions sent Tuesday, the MSSS said concerns were raised about the content of the training, which "did not follow the mandate, on several points," but the ministry did not provide details.
Committee approved training
In October 2022, the final version of the project was approved by a validation committee, made up of several members including academics, a Health Ministry advisor specializing in ethnocultural communities and a strategic advisor with the MCE's anti-racism coordination office.
Members told Radio-Canada the committee didn't think there were any issues with the reference to systemic racism. It only became a problem when the video was submitted to senior officials.
"It is political interference in a research process," said Michèle Vatz-Laaroussi, a retired professor emeritus from the School of Social Work at Université de Sherbrooke, the other researcher who worked on the project.
An email from the regional health authority dated Oct. 10, 2022, addressed to the researchers, confirms the Health Ministry requested changes to anti-racism training.
On Jan. 16, 2023, after the project was officially rejected, a CIUSSS executive wrote to the researchers: "It's a shame, and we are really sorry about the situation."
The shelved project cost at least $34,000.
According to the researchers, the department violated the Act respecting academic freedom in the university sector — a law that was adopted in June of last year and spearheaded by the CAQ government — by requesting that some content be removed.
However, the ministry said it complied with the law.
"It is the prerogative of the MSSS to determine the training it prioritizes and distributes to the attention of network personnel, said Marie-Claude Lacasse, a spokesperson for the Health Ministry.
Contract acknowledges systemic racism
The contractual agreement from May 2021 between Michèle Vatz-Laaroussi and the CIUSSS indicates that the concept of systemic racism would be part of the training's content. The researchers say this was one of the conditions they had imposed from the start of the project, and it had been approved.
On Wednesday, Québec Solidaire co-spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois the CAQ's actions as a clear political intervention and an illustration of the centralization in the province's health system.
"'It's a contradiction for a government that said academic freedom is so important for them," he said.
Marc Tanguay, the Quebec Liberal Party's interim leader, said the CAQ was wrong for not recognizing systemic racism and said the government's actions in this case were "questionable."
Pascal Bérubé, an MNA for the Parti Québécois, said the freedom of researchers is big part of the value of scientific projects in the province.
In 2021, coroner Géhane Kamel acknowledged that systemic racism played a role in Echaquan's death and she called on the Quebec government to recognize its existence.
The premier has said that racism "[which] starts from above, from the leaders, and encompasses an entire system" no longer exists in Quebec.
Based on reporting by Radio-Canada's Thomas Gerbet