Prayer rooms, student groups fuelling tensions in Quebec colleges, 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 Friday, after it had first appeared in the Journal de Montréal, 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."

Yves de Repentigny, who represents a teachers' group, blasted the report, saying it deviated from its original mandate and that Déry was "inventing problems to solve." 

"The report was about the safety and security of students in Vanier and Dawson college, and well, it turned out that every bylaw, that every collective agreement had been respected," said de Repentigny, vice-president of the Fédération nationale des enseignantes et enseignants du Québec (FNEEQ). 

He noted that tensions may arise in CEGEPs because junior colleges are part of higher education, where students are taught to confront values and opinions that differ from their own. 

"If you cannot learn to cope with disagreement and tensions in CEGEPs, where can you learn that?" he said.

De Repentigny said that in 2022, the FNEEQ wanted CEGEPs to be covered under Quebec's Bill 32 to guarantee academic freedom because college departments should remain as "autonomous as possible" when it comes to designing course content and teaching.

But he noted that the organization "wouldn't work on that with the current minister" because the FNEEQ has lost all confidence in Déry and is asking for her to resign.