Montreal colleges dispute findings of government investigation

Vanier College is seen Thursday, Fe. 4, 2021, in Montreal. (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press)

A recent Quebec government investigation into the climate at two Montreal junior colleges may have had a chilling effect on teachers, according to the director general of one of the schools.

Benoit Morin says the months-long probe exacerbated tensions at Vanier College, which has been under scrutiny since last fall due to complaints that diverging perspectives on the Israel-Hamas war had created an unsafe atmosphere on campus.

“I do think that the investigation raised questions that created an environment in which teachers may ... doubt what they will be teaching,” he said in an interview. “And that in itself can affect the quantity and the quality of academic freedom that we see in our environment.”

Quebec’s Higher Education Department last week published the results of its investigation of Vanier and Dawson colleges, which pointed to a number of issues, from the sale of kaffiyehs on campus to language classes focused on Palestinian culture, which it said are causing strain among students and teachers.

Both Morin and Diane Gauvin, the director general of Dawson College, are now raising doubts about some of the report’s findings, including that the two schools are not fully respecting the province’s secularism rules.

The investigators claimed the presence of prayer rooms at the colleges could foster radicalization and divisions between students. They also questioned other religious accommodations at the schools, including absences for religious holidays.

Morin said he has not seen evidence of radicalization at Vanier, which has had a prayer room for Muslim students for more than two decades. “There are 80 languages spoken at Vanier, which is a great strength,” he said. “Vanier has been at the forefront of adjusting and adapting to the evolution of our society.”

In a statement, Gauvin said Dawson has prayer rooms for Muslim, Jewish and Christian students, which she said do not contravene Quebec’s secularism law. Quebec has barred elementary and high schools from making space available for students to pray, but that rule does not extend to colleges and universities.

Gauvin said more than 98 per cent of religious accommodations granted by Dawson are to Jewish students.

The government’s investigation was launched in late November, shortly after a pro-Palestinian student strike at several post-secondary institutions in Montreal, during which Dawson cancelled classes and closed its campus in an effort to protect students’ welfare.

“The findings raised in the report are very clear, highlighting an accumulation of factors that have fuelled tensions between groups of students, but also between teachers,” the office of Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry said in a statement.

“Our hope is that all those involved, including the schools’ senior management, will take the situation seriously and work with us to re-establish a healthy climate.”

Morin did not deny that tension exists at Vanier over the conflict in the Middle East. But he said the government’s intervention came as a surprise.

“The investigation itself created a focus on certain tensions and those tensions might have been exacerbated by everything around the investigation,” he said. “All in all, (Vanier) is a great place to be. It’s a great college.”

The report focused in part on pro-Palestinian student groups, and said colleges lack the power to intervene in the activities of student clubs.

It also recommended that the government adopt a new law to regulate academic freedom in the college system.

The investigators found colleges have little control over course content, and pointed specifically to two classes at Dawson and Vanier that focused on Palestinian culture, despite being billed as language classes. They recommended that the expectations for language courses be reviewed.

“Academic freedom does not justify activism or the promotion of ideologies in any form,” the report says.

But Morin said teaching staff should be trusted. “Probably one of the worst ways of containing academic freedom is by creating an environment in which teachers will self-impose censorship,” he said.

Gauvin also raised doubts about the need for more oversight of course content. “I believe that there is a lack of understanding about competency-based education, and I am unaware of any difficulty of courses to meet the competencies,” she said.

Morin said he received the report last Friday, half an hour before it was made public, and after news articles had already been published about its findings. But he said he was pleased that it recognized the college’s dedication to providing a safe environment for students.

“The fact that Vanier College was vindicated in the report goes to show that perhaps the investigation created more questions and concerns than anything else,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 3, 2025.

Maura Forrest, The Canadian Press