Quebec’s higher education minister says her office has received multiple complaints from students that they do not feel safe on campus.
Saying that “the climate on certain campuses seems to have deteriorated over the past months,” Quebec Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry announced Tuesday she has ordered an investigation into the “governance mechanisms in place at Dawson and Vanier CEGEPs to see if they have taken all the measures at their disposal to guarantee the physical and psychological wellbeing of students.”
“We know the conflict in the Middle East has provoked its share of emotions,” Déry wrote on her X account. “But institutions have an obligation to use all means necessary to ensure a healthy and safe environment.”
While she did not cite specific examples in her social media post, Déry said the investigation follows “many” reports to the ministry to the effect that students felt uneasy or even unsafe.
“The right of students to evolve in a safe and secure environment is not negotiable,” she wrote.