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Montreal Gazette
a day ago
- Politics
- Montreal Gazette
Quebec report reveals Dawson student admitted to writing messages in private social media group
News A Quebec government report into tensions at two Montreal colleges has revealed new details about hateful messages posted in a social media group, singling out a Dawson student as one of the 'main participants.' The report, published Friday by Quebec's Ministry of Higher Education, noted Dawson CEGEP received an anonymous email on May 9 containing screenshots from a 'social media sharing group' involving students from several institutions. The messages were described in the report as 'hateful, antisemitic, racist, and threatening to various groups.' While the platform is not named in the report, The Gazette understands the group operated on Discord and was known as Med serveur, a private channel for aspiring medical students with more than 1,400 members before it was shut down in May after the messages surfaced. According to the report, Dawson took 'swift action' in response to the anonymous complaint. 'The articles concerning the student were removed from the College's website and a meeting was arranged with the student,' the report observed, alluding to previous unrelated Dawson announcements about the individual. 'During this meeting, he confirmed that he was the author of the messages and provided certain explanations.' The student in question has declined to be interviewed by The Gazette. The report adds while 'some comments are deemed inappropriate,' they did not constitute incitement to 'violence.' Part of the section concerning the student was redacted. It remains unclear what disciplinary measures, if any, were taken. In a statement earlier this year, Dawson confirmed it had completed its internal investigation, but could not disclose the outcome because of student privacy laws. 'We had no awareness of this group before the complaint,' Donna Varrica, Dawson's director of communications, wrote in an email. 'It would be impossible to monitor the use of all social media platforms among a population of nearly 10,000 Dawson students.' The report acknowledges the student's posts would have violated the college's Code of Conduct if they were made in an academic context or explicitly linked to the institution. 'The decision to intervene is difficult,' the report stated, 'because institutions do not have control over everything that is published on the internet. Their only leverage … is when the College's identification (official name) is included in the publication.' The case was part of a broader government investigation into tensions at English-language CEGEPs following the outbreak of the Israel–Hamas war. The report, which also reviewed Vanier College, raised concerns about political student groups and the presence of prayer spaces. It recommends clearer guidelines on academic freedom and stricter enforcement of Quebec's secularism law, known as Bill 21. This story was originally published June 28, 2025 at 2:44 PM.
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Montreal Gazette
10-05-2025
- Health
- Montreal Gazette
Racist, sexist posts flood group chat for Quebec med student applicants
By Warning: This story contains offensive language and imagery. A group chat for Quebec medical school applicants on the popular social media platform Discord has been overrun by misogynistic, racist, homophobic and antisemitic slurs, provoking widespread condemnation by Jewish doctors' groups across the country. One of the groups, Jewish Clinicians Against Antisemitism, has filed a criminal complaint with Montreal police against at least one Discord user, alleging he is a student at Dawson College. On Friday, a Dawson spokesperson confirmed the CEGEP has launched an investigation into the origin of some of the racist trolling on the Discord channel, Med serveur. 'The matter you refer to is being investigated,' Donna Varrica, director of communications and corporate affairs at Dawson, said in an email. 'But of course, as you know, due to Law 25 (the provincial legislation protecting personal information), if the matter pertains to a Dawson student or employee, we can't reveal the person's status at Dawson, if any, (as well as) their name, and what has come of the investigation.' The anonymous epithets on Med serveur — which has more than 1,400 members — date to at least February and also include threats against Jews and the LGBTQ2S+ community. Since Jewish advocacy group B'nai Brith Canada posted images of some of the slurs on X on Thursday, most of have been taken down from the Discord channel. But a reporter was able on Friday to view several antisemitic and misogynistic posts on the channel that is used by students to discuss the applications process in Quebec's four medical schools. B'nai Brith cited several degrading remarks on Med serveur, including: '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 comment alluded to the Jewish skullcap: 'Don't worry, you can trust me as long as you don't have a kippa 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… — B'nai Brith Canada (@bnaibrithcanada) May 8, 2025 'There are hundreds of these posts, and we couldn't find a single objection by anybody' in the group chat, lamented retired family physician Philip Berger, of the Toronto-based Doctors Against Racism and Antisemitism (DARA). 'I thought I'd seen everything. I've seen many vile posts all over the place since Oct. 7 (the massacre of Jews in Israel by Hamas in 2023), but this is beyond my imagination. I mean, slurs against people who are Black or Indigenous, transgender, women, Jews. I despise platitudes, but this one rings true: It starts with the Jews but it doesn't end with the Jews, and this is evidence of that.' Dr. Lior Bibas, president of the Association des médecins Juifs du Québec, called on authorities to investigate. 'If these accounts are really from future physicians, we need an immediate investigation to identify those responsible and ensure they are not admitted to our medical schools or allowed to practice medicine,' Bibas told The Gazette. 'It is essential that the institutions involved act swiftly, transparently, and decisively to restore public trust. Hate has no place in medicine. These reported comments are not only unacceptable — they are dangerous. Admitting individuals who hold such views into the medical profession poses a real risk to Quebec patients, especially those from vulnerable communities. Medicine must be grounded in ethics, respect, and inclusion. Those who do not uphold these values should not be entrusted with the care of our population.' Officials with the Service de police de la ville de Montréal (SPVM) were not immediately available for comment. Jillian Susi, a Discord spokersperson, vowed that the San-Franciso-based app will take swift action against the offending posters. 'Discord has a zero-tolerance policy for hate speech, which does not have a place on our platform or anywhere in society,' Susi said in a statement. 'Our dedicated teams work hard to identify and remove content that violates our policies and to prevent the misuse of our platform. Once we become aware of such content, we immediately take appropriate enforcement actions, which can include banning users and shutting down servers. Our safety team is investigating the referenced content and they will take appropriate enforcement action.' A McGill University medical student estimated there are up to 30 offensive Discord accounts on Med serveur. 'I was shocked by the individuals, the 20 to 30 people who were posting this antisemitic stuff. They were so blatant about it,' said the student, who agreed to be interviewed on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. 'What they were talking about had nothing to do with medicine, except where they were saying that Jews are controlling the applications process at McGill and you get bonus points if you're Black or Indigenous or you should dress up like a Jew for the interview.' In fact, McGill does not award so-called bonus points to applicants who are Jewish, female, Black or Indigenous. McGill does have a 'Black Candidate Pathway' and 'Indigenous Health Professions Program' to admit students from those under-represented communities, using stringent criteria for acceptance. The student also expressed dismay no one in the group chat denounced the offensive posts, given that they could have done so anonymously as well. 'Nobody was standing up against all of this on the forum, and it's a problem because 1,500 is basically the number of people in the applicant pool for medicine in Quebec. So the (Med serveur membership) is like 99 per cent of the students that are going to be applying to Quebec medical schools.' The student, who also intends to lodge a complaint with Montreal police, noted that about three-quarters of the offensive posts were against Jews, Black people and women in roughly equal proportions and the rest were targeted against the Indigenous and LGBTQ2S+ communities. The racist posts come amid heightened anxiety in Montreal's Jewish community since Oct. 7, 2023, with the entrances to synagogues firebombed, among other acts of antisemitic violence. In December, Quebec Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry launched an investigation into complaints of racist bullying from students at Dawson and Vanier colleges arising from tensions related to the Israel-Hamas war. This story was originally published May 9, 2025 at 9:32 PM.
