Concordia University issues a formal apology for the discrimination that one of its founding institutions—Sir George Williams University—inflicted on its black students in 1969. At the same time, to combat the discrimination that still exists today today, the establishment promises to put in place no less than 88 measures.
Updated yesterday at 10:21 p.m.
In an official ceremony at Concordia University attended by about 100 people on Friday, Graham Carr, president and vice-chancellor, said the university was doubly at fault, both for what happened and because it “shouldn’t have taken more than 50 years” to ask for forgiveness.
The facts date back to 1969. Six black and Caribbean students then filed a complaint against a biology teacher, Perry Anderson, who gave unfair grades to his black students.
“These complaints have been largely overlooked, mishandled and dismissed,” said Rector Graham Carr. For months, the students sought to be heard through various means, but were met with inaction by the university, which claimed their complaints were not legitimate. Students will demonstrate peacefully and occupy the computer rooms. After several days of tension, a riot broke out on February 11. Management will call the police.
This decision led to the sometimes violent arrest of 97 members of the student body. These arrests as well as the neutralization of the demonstration had serious and lasting consequences on the lives of many people.
Graham Carr, rector of Concordia University
” [Il y a eu] imprisonment, deportation, psychological trauma, physical injury, loss of employment, social alienation and the interruption or even abandonment of university studies,” noted Graham Carr.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Graham Carr, rector of Concordia University
“The lives of the black students who participated in the demonstration have changed forever,” notes the report of more than 100 pages on the subject. Lynne Murray, who was herself violently arrested and then imprisoned, offered her testimony. “In all, 97 students were arrested. Forty-two were black. »
During the ceremony, Mr.me Murray referred to “this black page” for Montreal. She recounted how young protesters, including her, were “handcuffed like criminals” and then beaten, humiliated and imprisoned. “Several have lost their scholarships, have seen their criminal record tarnished for a long time”, with what this meant in their everyday life or each time they then had to leave the country.
Students lost jobs, struggled to get hired. Being black and being associated with this protest “tinted their lives forever”.
Mme Murray has not forgotten any of this, but she also underlined in broad strokes what was also beautiful, those days. She made a point of thanking all the white students who supported them until the end, as well as the restaurateurs who donated food to the demonstrators and the merchants who supported them financially.
Candace Jacobs, who is director of communications services at Concordia University, was very moved to see her employer issue a formal apology. Because his father Leon, now 80 years old, was himself a student at the time. His role was to fetch food outside the university, which had taken care to close its cafeteria.
What struck him at the time was the kindness of the Montrealers who, in solidarity, cooked meals and brought them to the demonstrators. After all that was over, Leon Jacobs thought, “But we never brought them back their cauldrons! »
Rodney John, also a student at Concordia University in 1969, also came to the microphone to talk about his memories and to say that the students might not have mobilized and might have let it happen if their action did not go away. was not part of “the fundamental movement of social protest and awareness-raising” in Montreal in the 1960s.
Still a long way to equality
For Concordia University, this official apology, which will be accompanied by a commemorative plaque, is only the beginning of a series of actions aimed at combating the discrimination that racialized staff and students still suffer today. who are notably under-represented.
A working group chaired by Angélique Willkie, an adviser specializing in black integration and black knowledge, has drawn up a list of 88 recommendations.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Concordia University professor Angelique Willkie, who piloted the report.
“And each of these 88 measures will be implemented,” assured Anne Whitelaw, vice-rector for academic affairs.
Moved, Mme Willkie said he hopes to be able to look his son, “a black teenager,” in the eye and be able to tell him that “Concordia University will be a place where he can become everything he aspires to, where he will be treated fairly. , where his voice will be heard and appreciated, where he can realize his dreams, flourish and be happy”.