Read more  For us, it's censorship, denounces Lilyane Rachédi, full professor at the UQAM School of Social Work, who worked for more than a year on this training, suddenly rejected in December 2022.
She recalls that the government itself had commissioned the project and that the work was completed. The training was never presented to employees of the health and social services network.
The content consisted of four interactive video modules, each about ten minutes long. It was one of the modules dealing with systemic racism that caused problems. The authors of the project say that the ministry asked them to remove this passage, which they refused, out of scientific and ethical rigor.
"What is worrying is that a government is asking researchers to carry out this operation of removing realities justified by scientifically founded research." — Lilyane Rachédi, full professor at the UQAM School of Social Work
Professor Lilyane RachédiPhoto: Radio-CanadaPolitical interventionA document obtained by Radio-Canada reveals that after an intervention by the Ministry of the Executive Council (MCE), the ministry of François Legault, the office of the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, expressed its reluctance, since the training contradicted the political discourse of the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) government.
For several years, Prime Minister François Legault has rejected the idea that there is systemic racism in Quebec.
According to another document, corroborated by testimony, the ministry asked to remove the reference to systemic racism in the video.
To protect the sources, we cannot specify the nature of these documents or reproduce their exact content.
The passage that disturbedStart of YouTube widget. Skip widget?End of YouTube widget. Return to top of widget?The government denies any interferenceThe MCE claims not to have opposed the content of the training and refers the responsibility to the Ministry of Health and Social Services, which must determine the training that it prioritizes and distributes to the network's staff.
No, Minister Dubé's office or the deputy minister did not intervene to have the training project abandoned, responds MSSS spokesperson Marie-Claude Lacasse.
For its part, the minister's office admits that legitimate questions have been asked about certain elements of the training, but not to the point of asking for its withdrawal.
“Let’s be clear: the minister’s office has never asked to interrupt any training on the fight against racism in the health network.”—Antoine de la Durantaye, press attaché to Minister Christian Dubé
September 2020: Death of Joyce Echaquan, under racist insults, at the Joliette hospital. December 2020: The Action Group Against Racism, set up by the government, recommends training to raise awareness among government employees. January 2021: The Ministry of Health and Social Services launches two training projects for its employees, one on Indigenous realities, the other on racism and discrimination. Early 2021: The MSSS mandates the SHERPA University Institute, attached to the CIUSSS du Centre-Ouest-de-l'Île-de-Montréal, to carry out the training on racism. From 2021 to 2022: The two researchers produce the interactive training, with the support of educational and technological experts from the CIUSSS de l'Estrie-CHU de Sherbrooke. October 2022: The final version of the project is approved by a committee of validation.December 2022: the training is cancelled by the ministry.An excerpt from the training on racism that was ordered and then rejected by the government.Photo: Radio-Canada"Maintain a strong and consistent government message"The axe falls on December 8, 2022, in a letter from Assistant Deputy Minister Daniel Desharnais, addressed to the CEO of the CIUSSS du Centre-Ouest-de-l'Île-de-Montréal, Lawrence Rosenberg. He asks him to stop the work.
In the document we obtained, the senior official explains that the MCE has developed its own training intended for all state employees.
It is clear that the training project specific to the health and social services network and that supported by the MCE present disparities at several levels, he writes.
“Consequently, and with the aim of maintaining a strong and coherent government message on the fight against racism, the MSSS favors the dissemination of a single training, that being developed by the MCE.”— Daniel Desharnais, Assistant Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Health and Social Services, in a letter dated December 8, 2022
In a second response to our questions, sent on Tuesday, the MSSS acknowledges that certain concerns were raised regarding the content of the training which did not meet the mandate, and this, on several points, without specifying which ones.
A fictitious case of the training concerning a report to the DPJ.Photo: Radio-CanadaThe validation committee had appreciated the contentIn October 2022, the final version of the project was approved by a validation committee made up of professionals, managers, academics and stakeholders from the associative world. Members confirmed to us that the committee had found nothing wrong with the mention of systemic racism.
This committee included a MSSS advisor specializing in ethnocultural communities and a strategic advisor from the MCE's Office for the Coordination of the Fight against Racism.
The problem arose when the video was submitted to senior officials.
This is political interference in a research process, says Michèle Vatz-Laaroussi, retired professor emeritus from the School of Social Work at the University of Sherbrooke, the other researcher who worked on the project.
Researcher Michèle Vatz-LaaroussiPhoto: Université de Sherbrooke/Michel CaronAn email from the CIUSSS du Centre-Ouest-de-l'Île-de-Montréal dated October 10, 2022, addressed to the researchers, confirms that changes to anti-racism training have been requested by the MSSS.
On January 16, 2023, after the announcement of the rejection of the project, a CIUSSS executive wrote to the researchers: It's really a shame and we are truly sorry about the situation.
The SHERPA University Institute, attached to the CIUSSS du Centre-Ouest-de-l'Île-de-Montréal, did not respond to our requests for information.
The shelved project cost at least $34.
Illegal intervention? According to the researchers, the ministry violated the Law on Academic Freedom in the University Environment by requesting the deletion of part of the content.
The law, adopted in June 2022, states that every person has the right to exercise freely and without doctrinal, ideological or moral constraint, such as institutional censorship, an activity by which he or she contributes to the accomplishment of the mission of an educational establishment.
“If this is not institutional censorship, political interference in academic production and ideological, even doctrinal, constraint, what is it?”—Michèle Vatz-Laaroussi, retired professor emeritus from the School of Social Work at the University of Sherbrooke
The ministry claims to have complied with the law. It is the prerogative of the MSSS to determine the training it prioritizes and disseminates to network personnel, spokesperson Marie-Claude Lacasse told us.
An excerpt from the training on racism that was commissioned and then rejected by the government.Photo: Radio-CanadaThe contract stipulated that systemic racism would be addressedWe obtained the contractual agreement between Michèle Vatz-Laaroussi and the CIUSSS, dated May 2021. In the appendix, it is written that the concept of systemic racism will be part of the content of the training. The researchers say that this was one of the conditions they had imposed from the beginning of the project, and it had been approved.
In 2021, coroner Géhane Kamel acknowledged that systemic racism played a role in the death of Joyce Echaquan at Joliette hospital and called on the Quebec government to acknowledge its existence.
Hundreds of researchers have made the same request to François Legault, as well as indigenous groups.
According to the Prime Minister, racism [which] starts from the top, from the leaders, and encompasses an entire system no longer exists in Quebec.
The office of the Minister of Health assures that it will continue its actions, whether on mandatory training on indigenous realities for employees of the health network or for the hiring of liaison officers with indigenous communities. 

For us, this is censorship., denounces Lilyane Rachédi, full professor at the School of Social Work at UQAM, who worked for more than a year on this training, suddenly rejected in December 2022.

She recalls that the government itself had commissioned the project and that the work was completed. The training was never presented to employees of the health and social services network.

The content consisted of four interactive video modules, each about ten minutes long. It was one of the modules dealing with systemic racism that caused problems. The authors of the project say that the ministry asked them to remove this passage, which they refused, by scientific and ethical rigor.

« What is worrying is that a government is asking researchers to carry out this operation of removing realities justified by well-founded scientific research. »

—  Lilyane Rachédi, full professor at the UQAM School of Social Work

Political intervention

A document obtained by Radio-Canada reveals that after an intervention by the Ministry of the Executive Council (MCE), François Legault's ministry, the office of the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, expressed its reluctance, since the training contradicted the political discourse of the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government.

For several years, the Prime Minister François Legault rejects the idea that there is systemic racism in Quebec.

According to another document, corroborated by testimony, the ministry asked to remove the reference to systemic racism in the video.

To protect the sources, we cannot specify the nature of these documents or reproduce their exact content.

The passage that disturbed

The government denies any interference.

The MCE claims not to have objected to the content of the training and refers the responsibility to the Ministry of Health and Social Services which must determine the training that it prioritizes and disseminates to network personnel.

No, Minister Dubé's office or the deputy minister did not intervene to have the training project abandoned., replies the MSSS spokesperson, Marie-Claude Lacasse.

For its part, the minister's office admits that Legitimate questions have been asked about certain elements of the training, but not to the point of asking for its withdrawal.

« Let's be clear: the minister's office never asked to interrupt any training on combating racism in the health network. »

—  Antoine de la Durantaye, press attaché to Minister Christian Dubé

“Maintain a strong and consistent government message”

The axe fell on December 8, 2022, in a letter from Assistant Deputy Minister Daniel Desharnais, addressed to the CEO of the CIUSSS from the West-Central Island of Montreal, Lawrence Rosenberg. He asks him to end the work.

In the document we obtained, the senior official explains that the MCE has developed its own training intended for all state employees.

It is clear that the training project specific to the health and social services network and that supported by the MCE present disparities at several levels, he wrote.

« Consequently, and with the aim of maintaining a strong and coherent government message on the fight against racism, the MSSS favors the dissemination of a unique training, that being developed by the MCE. »

—  Daniel Desharnais, Assistant Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Health and Social Services, in a letter dated December 8, 2022

In a second response to our questions, sent on Tuesday, the MSSS recognizes that Some concerns have been raised about the content of the training which did not meet the mandate on several points, without specifying which ones.

The validation committee had appreciated the content

In October 2022, the final version of the project was approved by a validation committee composed of professionals, managers, academics and stakeholders from the associative world. Members confirmed to us that the committee had found nothing wrong with the mention of systemic racism.

This committee included a MSSS advisor. specialist in ethnocultural communities and a strategic advisor to the MCE’s Anti-Racism Coordination Office.

The problem arose when the video was submitted to senior officials.

This is political interference in a research process., says Michèle Vatz-Laaroussi, retired professor emeritus from the School of Social Work at the University of Sherbrooke, the other researcher who worked on the project.

An email from the CIUSSS from the West-Central Island of Montreal dated October 10, 2022, addressed to researchers, confirms that Changes to anti-racism training have been requested by the MSSS.

On January 16, 2023, after the announcement of the rejection of the project, a CIUSSS executive wrote to the researchers: It's really a shame and we are truly sorry about the situation..

The SHERPA University Institute, attached to the CIUSSS from the West-Central Island of Montreal, did not respond to our requests for information.

The shelved project cost at least $34.

An illegal intervention?

According to the researchers, the ministry violated the Academic Freedom Act in academia by asking for some of the content to be removed.

The law, adopted in June 2022, states that everyone has the right to exercise freely and without doctrinal, ideological or moral constraints, such as institutional censorship, an activity by which it contributes to the accomplishment of the mission of an educational establishment.

« If this is not institutional censorship, political interference in academic production and ideological, even doctrinal, constraint, what is it? »

—  Michèle Vatz-Laaroussi, retired professor emeritus from the School of Social Work at the University of Sherbrooke

The ministry claims to have complied with the law. It is the prerogative of the MSSS to determine the training that it prioritizes and disseminates to network personnel, spokeswoman Marie-Claude Lacasse told us.

The contract provided that systemic racism would be addressed

We have obtained the contractual agreement between Michèle Vatz-Laaroussi and the CIUSSS, dated May 2021. In the appendix, it is written that the concept of systemic racism will be part of the training content. The researchers say that this was one of the conditions they had imposed from the beginning of the project, and it had been approved.

In 2021, coroner Géhane Kamel acknowledged that systemic racism played a role in the death of Joyce Echaquan at Joliette hospital and She called on the Quebec government to recognize its existence.

Hundreds of researchers made the same request to François Legault, as well as indigenous groups.

According to the Prime Minister, racism [which] comes from the top, from the leaders, and encompasses an entire system no longer exists in Quebec.

The office of the Minister of Health assures that it will continue its actions, whether it is on mandatory training on indigenous realities for employees of the health network or for the hiring of liaison officers with indigenous communities.

"This post is a summary of information from our information monitoring"