Quebec researchers call out government after anti-racism training cancelled

Two university researchers are calling out the Quebec government for political interference and censorship.

Retired Prof. Michele Vatz-Laaroussi, an emeritus professor at Université de Sherbrooke and Prof. Lilyane Rachedi with the school of social work at UQAM say they were awarded a contract to develop anti-racism training for the province’s health-care employees, but it was pulled by the health ministry over a reference to systemic racism.

“Deception, incomprehension, I’d say shock,” said Vatz-Laaroussi, when asked what her reaction was to the cancellation.

The researchers say they were mandated by Quebec’s Health Ministry (MSSS) to come up with anti-racism training for its employees in 2021. But upon reviewing the training’s final stages back in December, they were told it was being pulled altogether.

In a letter sent by Quebec’s deputy health minister to the health authority in charge of the research contract, the CIUSSS de l’Ouest-de-l’Île-de-Montréal, Daniel Desharnais explained that there were inconsistencies between training prepared by the Ministère du Conseil Exécutif (MCE) and the one prepared by the researchers.

“Consequently and in the spirit of maintaining a strong and coherent government messaging regarding the fight against racism, the MSSS favours distributing a single training, the one developed by the MCE,” the letter reads.

The MCE is under the direct authority of the premier, who has consistently denied the existence of systemic racism in Quebec.

The researchers say that prior to receiving the letter, they were asked several times to remove certain slides the ministry considered problematic since they addressed systemic racism. They say they refused because their contract specified that they could openly address systemic racism.

“Otherwise, I would’ve never embarked on this adventure,” said Rachedi.

The researchers are calling the move political interference and say it goes against academic freedom, forcing them to ignore the existence of systemic racism.

“It’s stronger than ignorance. It’s erasing and making (issues) invisible. It’s silencing researchers and their research,” Rachedi told Global News.

Quebec solidaire’s co-spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois agrees and hopes the government changes its approach.

“I don’t see why words should be banned or formations should be closed because some ministers don’t like the words that are in the formation,” Nadeau-Dubois said, responding to the story which was first published by Radio-Canada.

Both researchers have been looking into the issue of immigration and racism at UQAM and Sherbrooke University for decades.

They say their well-documented research proves systemic racism exists and is a useful concept to understand and explain in order to address problems.

Quebec’s health ministry told Global News that it determined the content of the training didn’t correspond to the mandate on several points.

“In regards to the allegations concerning academic freedom: it is the MSSS’ prerogative to determine which training to prioritize and provide to network employees,” wrote Marie-Claude Lacasse, a spokesperson for the ministry.

Lacasse added that the cabinet of neither health minister Christian Dubé nor the deputy minister intervened or attempted to prevent the project from happening.

2:15 Premier Legault steadfast in denying existence of systemic racism