The Quebec government announced on Tuesday that it will investigate two junior colleges in Montreal following complaints of antisemitism.
“The climate on some campuses seems to have deteriorated in recent months,” said Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry, who requested the review of the Dawson College and Vanier College administrations.
“We know that the conflict in the Middle East generates its share of emotions,” she added. “But institutions have an obligation to take all necessary measures to ensure a healthy and safe environment for all students.”
The Dawson Teachers’ Union responded to the investigation request, calling the examples cited by Déry “inaccurate.”
The school’s educators “are doing their work effectively and in line with ministerial and departmental requirements,” the group stated. “Any suggestion otherwise is false and inappropriate.”
A complaint submitted to the Higher Education Department in June on behalf of a Dawson student listed several instances of harassment and Jew-hatred on the school’s campus, including an event when handouts promoting an arms embargo on Israel were allegedly circulated by a group of faculty calling themselves “Teachers for Palestine.”
“Since the month of October 2023, our client and many other students have been faced with numerous incidents of overtly antisemitic content, hate speech, harassment and abuse on the Dawson campus,” the complaint reads.
On Nov. 21, Dawson College administrators chose to shut down the campus following the announcement of city-wide protests against Israel. The decision drew criticism from several Jewish organizations that said the college was catering to “extremist voices.”
The Dawson College administration responded on Dec. 3 that it is confident it has “acted appropriately throughout these challenging times.”
Vanier College expressed surprise at the announcement, saying it had “not received any complaints internally that would warrant such an approach.”