An event during Vanier College’s International Women’s Week Symposium was cancelled, causing disapproval from Vanier’s teachers and students.
The event, originally scheduled for March 4, was cancelled by the college’s Director General Normand Bernier, mid-way through the 36th annual Symposium, which ran March 2 to 6.
The event was organized by the Women’s Studies Department.
“We were very shocked when this happened,” said Eric Durling, President of the Vanier College Teachers’ Association (VCTA). “To our knowledge we have never had a Director General interfere in the organizing of an event like this.”
The cancelled talk, titled “An Introduction to Sex Workers’ Rights,” was to be given by Robyn Maynard, a representative of the Montreal-based organization Stella. Stella, a support system for sex workers created by sex workers, provides health and legal care to those working within the sex industry, as well as advocates for their rights and public images.
“Stella has come in the past, and there has been no problem,” Durling said. “It is just the Director General that we have currently hasn’t been here that long.”
Darren Becker, Vanier’s communication director, said the previous Director general felt differently than Bernier.
“The argument goes they have been here before, so why stop now or what’s wrong now? That actually is a pertinent question, but it is also a question of ideology,” Becker said.
Becker said Bernier felt other events and presenters promoted topics such as female empowerment, and that “this one did not really fit into the mission of the college.”
He cited the young age of many students and a possible negative response from parents as central deciding factors.
Although VCTA has not completed a consultation meeting, Durling said his organization will arrive at an official opinion on the cancellation. He said several attendees at the weekly meeting of co-ordinators on March 6, consisting of teachers and students, denounced the Director General’s decision.
“I would have found it a very important opportunity for me to learn more about the rights of workers in the sex industry,” said Majed Abou Alkhir, president of the Vanier College Student Association (VCSA). “You don’t find a lot of people who speak about it, and you are never going to find a course at an educational institution, as far as I know, that speaks about it.”
For future talks at Vanier, Becker said Bernier recommends academic departments and faculty working more closely with event organizers.
Alkhir agreed organizers should increase communication, although VCSA has not yet reached an official position.
“Essentially where the core problem lays is between the administration and the Women’s Studies Department,” Alkhir said.
