The office of Minister of Higher Education Pascale Déry confirmed on Friday that it had blocked the appointment of Professor Denise Helly to the board of the National Institute of Scientific Research (INRS) due to “the connections” that linked her to Imam Adil Charkaoui . Ms. Déry confirmed that she had taken part in “political interference,” a teachers’ union responded.
“The decision whether or not to accept an application for a seat on the board of an institution remains with the minister. We had certain reservations about the links that Ms. Helly had with the controversial preacher Adil Charkaoui and therefore asked the institution to submit a further application to us,” the minister's press secretary, Simon Savignac, wrote to Devoir.
“It won’t stay there,” the professor replied in a telephone interview. She believes she is the subject of a “smear campaign.”
In 2015, Denise Helly and three colleagues from higher education organized an international conference on Islamophobia at the INRS. Adil Charkaoui attended as a representative of the Quebec Collective Against Islamophobia (CQCI). Mr. Charkaoui had previously been suspected of terrorism by Canadian authorities; He was monitored for nine years without any charges being brought against him.
Also in 2015, Ms Helly received a recognition award from the CQCI for her “efforts in combating Islamophobia”. The joint winners were former Huntingdon mayor Stéphane Gendron and Salam al-Minyawi, president of the Muslim Council of Montreal. It is this finding that most concerns Ms. Déry's office, her press secretary said.
“I didn’t make a mistake”
“I don’t think I made a mistake,” Ms. Helly said of the award. “I accepted it, in their heads [au cabinet Déry], that means I support Charkaoui. If I refused, it meant, in the spirit of academic freedom, that I was taking a stand on the matter. » However, “I'm not a lawyer, I'm not the RCMP,” she stated.
INRS told Le Devoir that the minister’s statements “do not change the nature of the situation.”
“The process through which Professor Denise Helly was appointed by her colleagues gives her the skills and legitimacy necessary to contribute to the leadership of the INRS,” the body added. The INRS judges that Ms. Helly's research activities are “protected by academic freedom” and that Ms. Déry's actions violate the university's autonomy.
The Quebec Federation of University Professors (FQPPU) sees Ms. Déry's decision as a violation of the Law on Academic Freedom in Science, passed 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, ideological or moral constraints, such as institutional censorship,” the union recalled.
The FQPPU spoke of a “cold shudder” on the academic environment and said it was concerned that relations with the environment, “which are nevertheless crucial to the work of the anthropologist and fall within the scope of academic freedom,” ” “serious consequences” could have on a professor’s career. In this case, the INRS assured that it had respected “every stage of the nomination process”, in particular the possibility that Ms. Helly was selected by her colleagues for the position on the Board.
“It smells like swing”
Stéphane Gendron, who was awarded in 2015 by the collective represented by Mr Charkaoui, also said he was concerned about a situation in which a person is made “guilty by association”.
“Maybe I've just signed off for the next 50 years!” launched the ex-politician when Le Devoir contacted him. “I can’t believe the government won’t nominate her because she won an award sometime in 2015. The CQCI is not a terrorist organization, it is not on the FBI list, I don't understand that. Will we put this off for the rest of our lives? »
Stéphane Gendron, who himself has reflected on his previous positions, argued for “maintaining the dialogue,” even with characters who “do not leave you indifferent,” like Mr. Charkaoui. “Such an attitude from the Legault government smacks of swing,” he complained.
Quebec's blocking of Ms. Helly's candidacy, so far without any public justification, had already sparked outrage in the academic community. Alexandre Cloutier, president of the University of Quebec – a network to which the INRS is a part – called for a meeting with Ms Déry's team on the issue. As of Friday, this meeting was still on his agenda for the end of the month.
Mr. Cloutier said he sees Quebec's gesture as an attack on university autonomy and possibly academic freedom. These two principles have been enshrined in law since June 2022.