Quebec urges students to help in racism investigation
Warning: This story contains offensive language and imagery.
Quebec's Higher Education Minister, Pascale Déry, is denouncing a virulent stream of racist and other hateful messages on a popular social media platform for medical school applicants after The Gazette broke the story over the weekend.
'The calls for violence and expressions of hatred in these exchanges are totally unacceptable in Quebec,' Simon Savignac, Déry's press attaché, said in a statement on Monday.
'It is all the more worrying to note that the authors of these comments are aspiring doctors, who could be entrusted with the health of Quebecers. We applaud the fact that Dawson College's management is taking the situation seriously; launching an investigation was the right thing to do to ensure a healthy and safe climate for all students. However, since it is difficult to identify the vast majority of perpetrators at this stage, we invite anyone with information to report them to their school's management.'
The Gazette reported that Dawson College has launched an investigation into the origin of antisemitic, misogynistic, homophobic, anti-Black and anti-Indigenous slurs on a channel of the Discord online chat forum for students to discuss the applications process involving Quebec's four medical schools. At least one of the perpetrators of the hateful content on Discord is alleged to be a Dawson student enrolled in the enriched health science program, and until recently, a medical school applicant.
The offending posts on the Discord Med serveur channel also included threats of violence against Jews and members of the LGBTQ2S+ community, with one anonymous troll displaying an image of a firearms locker stocked with shotguns under a gay pride flag.
Meanwhile, the Service de police de la ville de Montréal (SPVM) would neither confirm nor deny whether it has launched a criminal investigation despite the fact that it has received at least two complaints — one from a medical student and the other from an ad-hoc group representing Jewish physicians.
'For reasons of confidentiality, the ... SPVM never confirms, with rare exceptions, that an individual or legal entity has filed a complaint or is the subject of a complaint,' spokesperson Mélanie Bergeron said in an email. 'The same applies to any investigation, so as not to hinder its progress.'
In contrast, the internal investigation at Dawson is making headway, the CEGEP's director of communications and corporate affairs confirmed on Monday.
'The investigation is advancing,' Donna Varrica said. 'We are awaiting clarity on a couple of important points before considering any action or calling it closed. As for any changes to webpages on our website that reference specific students in order to identify them in another context, ... I can't comment on that.'
Varrica was alluding to Gazette queries concerning the disappearance of references to a student on its website.
Déry's appeal for assistance from students and members of the public in identifying the perpetrators of the hateful online epithets comes as an atmosphere of fear and secrecy has descended on the the Med serveur Discord channel and within the halls of Quebec CEGEPs. In December, Déry opened an investigation into complaints of racist bullying from students at Dawson and Vanier colleges arising from tensions related to the Israel-Hamas war.
Since then, some academic union leaders have accused Déry of political interference after she demanded that Dawson justify the content of a French course with most of the material focusing on the Palestinian cause.
Although most of the offensive posts have since been taken down from the Discord channel, B'nai Brith Canada captured some of them, including the degrading comment: 'Imagine a woman under antidepressant(s) and f---ing Ritalin who (performs) surgery on you. She'll vomit mid-surgery because it's too stressful and she needs a mental health break.'
A screenshot of another remark alluded to the Jewish skullcap: 'Don't worry, you can trust me as long as you don't have a kippah under your wig.'
B'nai Brith Canada has exposed a public Discord server used by Quebec medical school applicants and attendees that became a cesspool of antisemitism, racism, misogyny, and hate.
For months, a number ofaspiring doctors openly posted Holocaust denial, praise for the 'Final… pic.twitter.com/xRxBJa1GvA
— B'nai Brith Canada (@bnaibrithcanada) May 8, 2025
Discord, the San Francisco-based app popular among teens and university students, has also launched its own investigation into the Med serveur channel.
The racist posts have rekindled feelings of anxiety in Montreal's Jewish community that have persisted since Oct. 7, 2023 — the date when Hamas invaded Israel and committed the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Following the start of the Israel-Hamas war, entrances to Montreal synagogues have been firebombed, among other acts of antisemitic violence.
This story was originally published May 12, 2025 at 5:49 PM.
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