Latest news with #VanierCollege
CBC
20 hours ago
- Politics
- CBC
Prayer rooms, student groups fuelling tensions in Quebec CEGEPs, government report finds
A Quebec government-commissioned investigation into the campus climate at Dawson and Vanier colleges is recommending the adoption of a law to "oversee academic freedom in the college system" with the aim of reducing tensions among students. The report published on Friday found that the principles of secularism are not being followed at both colleges. It raised several issues linked to student associations and religious accommodations and points to the availability of prayer rooms for fuelling a "climate of radicalization, community withdrawal" and mistrust at the junior colleges (CEGEPs). Quebec Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry called for the investigation in November 2024, following complaints from students who said they felt unsafe because of tensions stemming from the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East. The investigation, which consists of nearly 50 interviews with administration members of both colleges, was completed in June. Déry said in a news statement on Friday that the report highlights failings, which have "deeply undermined the climate at both colleges, fuelled tensions and weakened community life." "As a government, we cannot tolerate our campuses becoming a scene of division," she said. "Attending an educational institution in a healthy and safe environment is not a privilege; it is a right, and this right is non-negotiable." 'Climate of suspicion' Faculty, students and student associations at Dawson and Vanier have been experiencing friction linked to the Israel-Palestinian conflict since 2023, the report says. The report suggests the interpretation of academic freedom at the colleges has caused a "climate of suspicion and the creation of cliques among professors," which could negatively impact educational services and students. Tensions at the colleges have manifested through conferences, student newspapers, such as the Plant at Dawson College, and some clubs promoting the use of a keffiyeh, according to the report, which notes that the distinction between cultural and religious elements of some student clubs is unclear. Student associations at Dawson and Vanier are responsible for organizing activities and promoting the social, cultural and recreational interests of students. However, according to the report, activities organized by student clubs "foster the formation of cliques that exclude some students who do not share the same goals." "This situation creates tensions that give rise to complaints," the report reads. "Moreover, some clubs also display their affiliation with sociopolitical activist movements in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict." The report recommends that the law on the accreditation and financing of student associations be updated to give institutions the necessary tools to intervene in "problematic situations" and putting in place mechanisms to ensure the adherence to the province's secularism law. To address unclear evaluation criteria in some classes, the report recommends a review of skill requirements for language courses while taking into account "departmental responsibilities, academic freedom and the teaching context in colleges." For Dawson specifically, the report recommends that at least one faculty member join the editorial team of the college's student newspaper. The report also recommends that Vanier establishes official criteria for choosing guest speakers and topics for conferences. A spokesperson for Vanier said they would issue a statement on behalf of the institution later on Friday. Diane Gauvin, director general of Dawson College, said in an email that the administration is reading the report carefully before it releases a statement next week.
CTV News
a day ago
- Politics
- CTV News
Tom Mulcair: Quebec government's lack of moral compass on human rights is affecting campus life
Quebec Premier Francois Legault speaks at a news conference marking the end of the spring session at his office in Quebec City on June 6, 2025 THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot Tom Mulcair is a former leader of the federal New Democratic Party of Canada between 2012 and 2017, and a columnist for A recent report by Quebec's Ministry of Higher Education has assessed reported cases of discrimination and intimidation at two of Quebec's junior colleges (CEGEPs). The inquiry focused on activities at Vanier and Dawson Colleges, taking place against the backdrop of renewed conflict in the Middle East—specifically, the war between Israel and Hamas. The report followed an investigation involving dozens of interviews with relevant stakeholders. Its goal was to determine whether campus activities raised concerns about students' physical or psychological safety. It details a litany of institutional failures in handling complaints and highlights what appears to be clear bias. It's worth noting that both colleges are anglophone. In Quebec, the most intense university protest related to the war occurred at McGill. It appears that closer linguistic and cultural ties with protests in the U.S. and the rest of Canada have heightened tensions on Quebec's English-language campuses in particular. Alarmed by reports of politicization and polarization of campus life—from lectures to student clubs to prayer rooms—Minister Pascale Déry launched an independent investigation under the direction of her department. Déry was sharply criticized by teachers' unions and some commentators for initiating the inquiry, with critics arguing it was an attack on academic freedom. Some of those unions also support the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. Pascale Dery Quebec Minister for higher Education Pascale Dery responds to the Opposition during question period at the legislature in Quebec City on Jan. 30, 2025 THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot The BDS movement itself is highly controversial and widely regarded as central to efforts aimed at denying Israel's right to exist. Unions, like all actors in society, are entitled to freedom of expression. What's troubling is that the unions' positions appear to have influenced their responses to the inquiry. Jewish teachers who have felt targeted or discriminated against because of campus activities have told me they believe their unions failed to respond fairly—due, in part, to anti-Israel bias. The criticism aimed at Minister Déry, especially from unions, escalated quickly. While framed as a defence of academic freedom, the real impact was an attempt to intimidate the minister into abandoning the investigation. Déry, however, remained resolute. This newly released report validates her concerns. For example, it cites a planned walkout at the two colleges that urged students to protest in order 'to demand Minister Déry resign from her position, as she abuses her power as Minister of Higher Education for the Zionist agenda.' One student newspaper published a caricature that it acknowledged was anti-Semitic but refused to publish opposing viewpoints submitted by other students. The report underscores that freedom of assembly and freedom of expression are protected Charter rights. But it also makes clear that campus rules designed to ensure student safety were ignored. One key finding is that the important principle of academic freedom is being invoked in various ways—sometimes to justify actions that are otherwise indefensible. It's also significant that Minister Déry is the only Jewish member of Quebec's cabinet. The attacks on her actions quickly became pointed and personal, with repeated calls for her resignation. These criticisms came dangerously close to linking her decisions on Middle East matters to her faith. To her credit, Déry has never publicly raised that aspect. But the implication hangs heavily over this controversy. Premier François Legault has, to date, defended her. One cannot assess this situation in isolation from Quebec's openly discriminatory laws targeting religious minorities and the English-speaking community. Legault's CAQ government has not hesitated to use religion and language as political tools. It should come as no surprise that such divisive tactics at the top are now being mirrored on campus. But that is no excuse. The absence of a moral compass at the highest level of government has trickled down to institutions. In lacking a coherent approach to rights, Legault is left pleading: Do as I say, not as I do. When colleges fail to uphold and defend rights, they are just as culpable as the government. The just-released ministerial report provides a reasoned and balanced analysis of these divisive events. Still, meaningful change is far more difficult when the government itself exploits religious and linguistic differences for political gain. McGill University, student protest An encampment set up by pro-Palestinian student activists is seen on McGill University campus in Montreal on April 29, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi Recently, Legault's CAQ government targeted two English-language universities, McGill and Concordia, slashing their funding and imposing new language requirements. The justification? That too much English was being heard in the streets of Montreal. (Legault's own office is literally across the street from McGill's Roddick Gates.) In a recent decision, Quebec's Superior Court dismissed that rationale, finding no evidence to support a threat to the French language. It struck down the budgetary rules that targeted the anglophone institutions. In a stunning turn, it was Minister Déry who announced that, although the government would not appeal the ruling—it would ignore it. Legault plans to reintroduce the discriminatory rules using a new pretext, now that the 'threat to French' argument has been legally discredited. Such a move is unprecedented in a democracy governed by the rule of law. Telling CEGEPs they aren't respecting rules intended to protect their communities becomes a textbook case of the pot calling the kettle black. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is meant to protect all Canadians, from coast to coast to coast. Over 40 years old, its application remains uneven across provinces. The greatest threat to its integrity is the increasing use of the 'notwithstanding clause,' which continues to erode its intended purpose. That clause—introduced as a compromise to bring hesitant provinces onboard with constitutional repatriation in 1982—allows legislatures to declare certain laws operative even if they violate Charter rights. Doug Ford's Progressive Conservative government used the clause to override Charter protections and impose back-to-work legislation on CUPE education workers. While Ford initially vowed to use it again, public backlash in Ontario led him to repeal the law. In Saskatchewan, Premier Scott Moe invoked the clause in legislation affecting LGBTQ+ students after a court struck it down. But nowhere is the clause used more freely than in Quebec. The Supreme Court has held that provinces may invoke it preemptively—even before a law is challenged in court. In fact, Quebec's Court of Appeal has ruled that courts may not even comment on whether such legislation is discriminatory. The notwithstanding clause can be used without test or justification. Emboldened by this, Premier Legault has described it as the 'parliamentary sovereignty clause'—clearly stating that elected officials, not judges, will decide what rights citizens have—or don't have. Predictably, this has created a chilling environment where even challenging discriminatory laws like Bill 21 (religion) or Bill 96 (language) is cast as an attack on Quebec itself. The same goes for the blanket invocation of 'academic freedom.' The message: nothing to see here—move along. If we've decided to discriminate, it's nobody's business. It's protected by the academic version of the notwithstanding clause. Quebec's Bill 21 targets religious minorities broadly, and Muslim women in particular. It is finally headed to the Supreme Court. Legault is already preparing to frame any ruling against it as an attack on Quebec—and by extension, an attack by the federal government. Despite the deeply troubling motives behind the law, don't count on the Supreme Court to overturn it. The Charter, riddled with exceptions, cannot easily be interpreted to say what it doesn't explicitly state. For now, the only cost of invoking the notwithstanding clause is political, not legal. That deterred Doug Ford—but not Scott Moe or François Legault. Balancing competing rights is the duty of legislatures and courts alike. The report reminds us that this same responsibility now falls on college administrators—many of whom may not have the training or experience to navigate such complex terrain. In today's world of instant images, instant reactions, and instant judgment, there's less and less space for thoughtful deliberation. When complex concepts like academic freedom are used to justify actions that generate fear among students or staff, it's time to step back. Wise, informed counsel is rare—but more necessary than ever. In her reaction to the report, Minister Dery speaks of 'very troubling facts that bring to light a series of failures that have profoundly undermined the climate on both campuses, stoked tensions and weakened the ability to live together.' She expresses her government's resolve to deal with divisive behaviour and adds that 'attending an educational institution that is healthy and safe is not a privilege, it's a right.' No one can disagree with that. Dery leaves the door open as to possible government actions and wisely invites the colleges themselves to take steps to correct the situation, failing which the government reserves the right to act in their place. This is a delicate balancing act since the report also says that in the Quebec government's view, a part of the problem is that Bill 21, that targets religious minorities, isn't fully respected on those college campuses. If living together and avoiding divisions is the goal, Quebec also has to ask itself whether it hasn't helped give rise to those very divisions with its own discriminatory actions.
CBC
19-05-2025
- Politics
- CBC
CÉGEP profs, unions call for Quebec's minister of higher education to resign
The calls for Pascale Déry to step down come after recent budget cuts and tension over an investigation into on-campus climate at Montreal's Dawson and Vanier colleges, launched a few months ago. But, other groups are throwing their support behind the minister.
Globe and Mail
17-05-2025
- Health
- Globe and Mail
The one diet you won't crash out on: a steady dose of joy
Sheila Das is the writer and host of Flow, a podcast about conversation, and a humanities teacher at Vanier College. One thing I really like is ice cream. I should introduce myself like that at parties and in job interviews as a crucial fact that every person needs to know about me. Years ago, when I made my first trip to Italy, my roommate Magali and I would invent reasons to go eat gelato every day. It's my father's birthday! Gelato. It's the patron-saint day of Florence! Gelato. It's Tuesday – and sunny! Gelato. The point is, I ate a lot of gelato, but Italian-style – about 20 millilitres, or six exquisite mini-spoonfuls, each one oozing with such intense flavour that by the last melting mouthful, I was floating. I lost weight that summer. Italian serving sizes and real, quality ingredients taught me something. Enjoyment matters. What I think we all can learn from Italians is that enjoyment can be part of a whole diet. 'The Joy Diet,' as I call it, calls for a daily dose of, yes, good food and drink, but also puts people and experiences back on the table. The key idea is to savour. This is not obvious, especially in a North American culture that starts each new year with calls to start a new diet and/or exercise routine right in the middle of winter. Savouring good food and drink and striving for better health are often placed at opposite ends of a spectrum. But complete abstinence can have its own hazards. Remember last year's guidelines warning against any alcohol consumption? What's missing from the recommendations, for people in Britain at least, is the risk of losing social connection. In The Times of London, Zoe Dare Hall attests that having a local pub 'where you can pop in' is now valued as the key metric for a happy and healthy neighbourhood for Brits. Kim Samuel, author of On Belonging, drives home the point that gathering places, be it pubs, cafés or even gyms, bring us together and help us feel connection. So savouring is not just about gelato or a pint, but about the other, greater pleasures of company. Whether I knew it at the time or not, the gelato in Italy surely tasted better because I was out with my friend. The origin of the word 'companion,' from the Latin con (with) and pane (bread), holds the magic of this age-old insight: the enjoying of bread, of sustenance, with another person. Why then do I not savour more regularly? Is it that, just like so many Canadians, I am dealing with professional demands, family health concerns and a social life scattered over mountains and oceans? Or is it something deeper? After all, the Joy Diet requires but two components: openness to joy, and attention. As to the first, I'll posit that many of us feel we need to suffer. Why else would fasting as a health technique and elimination diets take off? In the face of constant threats and uncertainty, e.g. economic instability, natural disasters and/or political fears, many of us have taken the route of sacrifice to rebalance our lives by being 'good.' We're yearning for some measure of control, but we're moving in the wrong direction. Blame it, if you wish, on our evolutionary psychology, which primes us to assuage danger before desire. Are we trying to find a replacement for religious penance, to 'cleanse' ourselves, even while purporting to live in a secular spirit? In this modern vernacular, we have come to equate the trim body with being 'good.' It projects visual evidence of moral qualities like restraint (avoiding temptations), intelligence (I know what to choose), and privilege (hello plastic surgery, costly meds and personal trainers). It is true that the opposite – a lack of restraint – is also on the rise today. The disinhibition displayed by U.S. President Donald Trump, as noted by columnist Ezra Klein, may suggest a broader cultural embrace of pleasure in these uncertain times. Many of us certainly take great pleasure in mocking those in power these days, perhaps also as a response to a perceived lack of control. But much like eating an entire bag of chips, this only helps us to feel good in the moment, and the flavour quickly dissipates. The Joy Diet is about rejecting sacrifice and cheap thrills and instead diving into deep contentment that makes us feel fully alive. What does make us truly happy? And how do we get there? In his 2011 book The Swerve, literary historian Stephen Greenblatt recounts a resurgence in popularity of the Roman philosopher Lucretius during the 1400s. This era, later known as the Renaissance, had a cultural backdrop eerily similar to our own: After centuries of plague and war, people were terrified of the future and bent on sacrificing body and mind, thinking that a certain degree of self-flagellation might earn them mercy from God. A 15th-century humanist and Vatican bureaucrat named Poggio Bracciolini summed up humanity's collective mood at the time as being 'terrified of future catastrophes and thrown into a continuous state of misery and anxiety … always panting for riches and never giving our souls or our bodies a moment's peace.' Sound familiar? In 1417, it was Bracciolini who rediscovered a dusty manuscript by Lucretius titled On the Nature of Things, in which the author wrote that enjoyment is a natural and logical desire of our human condition. Far from the medieval tendency to place divine purification above all other human needs, Lucretius argued for bringing delight back to the table. Fast-forward to the present day, as folks try to be virtuous by eliminating sugar, or skipping a happy hour to keep up their workout routine, or even signalling virtue by proclaiming how essentially bad they are in being born 'privileged.' Original (i.e. inherited) sin is alive and well. Now, while we should give full-throttled support to actions that are geared toward creating a more just society, it is unsurprising that there is pushback against essentialist sin. Most people do not want to live in misery as an inescapable, eternal condition. And rightly not. As human beings, we are made to seek joy and should allow ourselves to feel it. I propose that we reawaken Lucretius's key insight, and update it for our modern world. A caveat: Lucretius did remind us that true joy is not just found in sensual pleasure, but in exchange with others. The Joy Diet insists on societal values: making friends, and living justly and magnanimously. Others extend joy to having a dialogue with the past through reading, and by remembering good times. Where were you the last time you felt deep contentment? Sometimes it is difficult to pin down because we confuse joy with simple pleasures, often purchased and always fleeting. As has been widely noted, pain and (simple) pleasure are opposites, but pain and joy are not. Usually, both occur through dedication to causes outside ourselves, as Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama remind us in The Book of Joy. Joy is there to be had in the view from a mountain, or the contemplation of a snowfall seen from your window. We can experience joy by feeling relevant, whether by volunteering on a project in our community, or by nourishing our relationships. Yes, that includes listening to the minutiae of boring stories from your grandmother, or holding the hand of your romantic partner. And by savouring – not quaffing – wine. Some of you are already feeling guilty reading this. Don't! A friend of mine reminded me that even people in the midst of war, suffering real, debilitating trauma, fall in love. Even people who are ill or dying can cherish laughter. Joy does not minimize the reality of suffering. Neither does it merely provide a temporary reprieve. It is, rather, the pulsating raison d'être of life. In a recent conversation with activist and author Kazu Haga, we talked about joy from the perspective of long-term civic engagement. Societal transformation, whether in the context of historical events like the abolition of slavery, or contemporary issues of the day like climate action, takes time. And working for it needs endurance. The crash diet of outrage poured into one protest, or a year of them, will not cut it. We need a diet that promotes lifelong habits. Here, Mr. Haga recognizes the need to 'pendulate' between the joy of our everyday life and the efforts of activism to keep us going. Robert Reich, former secretary of labour for Bill Clinton, wrote the day after the countrywide protests against Donald Trump in April that we must be careful not to burn out. He urged activists to take 'time out for your loved ones. Time out for play. Time out for joy. Time out to dance or sing. Time out to do absolutely nothing.' If you are aching for change right now in the state of the world, there is no reason to feel bad about joy. It is a psychic necessity. But it is not just guilt that is stopping us. It is dopamine. In September, New York Times columnist David Brooks lamented that we are unhappy and lonely because we are easily distracted. We eschew art and even entertainment because they are too demanding. The convenience of our phones devours all our attention, creating a dopamine dependency that hooks us into further scrolling. Yet, while these dopamine hits are easy to come by, they actually end up leading us away from enjoyment. Reclaiming joy requires us to reclaim our attention. In Stolen Focus, journalist Johann Hari emphasizes that attention is not a personal failing but a structural problem of our modern lives, wherein our devices, our work-creep workdays, and fast-food options, are designed to blur our choices. The Joy Diet is a conscious effort – not to browbeat ourselves for our existence or our addictions (that's just more guilt), but to open our palates to what is truly delicious. We need to put the phone away and focus on replacing it with something else. Just as Indiana Jones replaced that golden idol statue with a bag of sand in Raiders of the Lost Ark, our system needs to feel full. Finding something sumptuous – a spoonful of gelato, a leisurely chat, or a book to get lost in – is not a bad place to start to reset our happiness and our health. In turn, that fulfilment may lead us to resilience in an uncertain world.
