The office of the Minister of Higher Education, Pascale Déry, affirmed on Friday that it had blocked the appointment of Professor Denise Helly to the board of directors (CA) of the National Institute of Scientific Research (INRS) due to “the links” that she had with imam Adil Charkaoui. Mme Déry thereby confirmed having engaged in “political interference”, replied a teachers’ union.
“The decision to accept or not an application submitted to sit on the board of directors of an establishment remains the prerogative of the Minister. We had certain reservations about the links maintained by Mr.me Helly with the controversial preacher Adil Charkaoui, we therefore asked the establishment to submit another application to us,” wrote to Duty the minister’s press secretary, Simon Savignac.
“It won’t stop there,” reacted the tenured professor in a telephone interview. She believes she is the subject of a “smear” campaign.
In 2015, Denise Helly organized an international conference on Islamophobia at INRS, with three colleagues from the higher education sector. Adil Charkaoui participated as a representative of the Quebec Collective Against Islamophobia. Mr. Charkaoui had previously been suspected of terrorism by Canadian authorities. He was monitored for nine years, without any charges being filed against him.
Still in 2015, Mme Helly received a recognition award from the Collective for her “efforts in the fight against Islamophobia”. The co-recipients were the former mayor of Huntingdon Stéphane Gendron and Salam El Minyawi, president of the Muslim Council of Montreal. It is this recognition that most disturbs Ms.me Déry, explained his press officer.
Not a mistake
“I consider that I did not make a mistake,” declared Mme Helly about this award. “I accepted it and in their heads [au cabinet Déry], that means that I support Charkaoui. In terms of academic freedom, if I refused, it meant that I was taking a position on the matter. » However, “I am not a lawyer, I am not the RCMP,” she indicated.
The Quebec Federation of University Professors (FQPPU) sees in M’s decisionme Déry a violation of the Law on academic freedom in the university environment, adopted by the government of François Legault in June 2022. This law “recognizes the autonomy of universities and guarantees the right of professors to participate in university activities “without doctrinal constraints , ideological or moral, such as institutional censorship,” recalled the union.
Speaking of a “cold shower” on the academic environment, the FQPPU said it was concerned to see that relations with the environment, “yet crucial to the work of the anthropologist and falling within the scope of academic freedom”, could have ” serious consequences on a professor’s career. In this case, INRS assured that it had respected “each of the stages of the appointment process”, in particular that allowing Mme Helly to be chosen for the position on the Board of Directors by her peers.
“It smells like swing”
Also rewarded by the Collective represented by Mr. Charkaoui in 2015, Stéphane Gendron said he was concerned about a situation where a person is made “guilty by association”. “Maybe I’ve just signed myself out for the next 50 years!” », Launched the ex-mayor when The duty contacted him.“I can’t believe the government won’t nominate her because sometime in 2015 she received an award. The Council is not a terrorist organization, it is not on the FBI list, I don’t understand. Are we going to drag this out for the rest of our lives? »
Stéphane Gendron, who himself has introspected on his past positions, pleaded for “maintaining dialogue”, even with people who “do not leave one indifferent”, like Mr. Charkaoui. “Such an attitude from the Legault government smacks of swing “, he lamented.
The blocking of M’s candidacyme Helly by Quebec, without public justification until now, has sparked outrage in academia. Alexandre Cloutier, who chairs the University of Quebec — a network of which INRS is part — demanded a meeting with M’s teamme Déry on this subject. On Friday, this meeting was still scheduled on his agenda for the end of the month.
Mr. Cloutier said he saw in Quebec’s gesture an attack on the autonomy of universities and, possibly, on academic freedom. These two principles have been enshrined in law since June 2022.