The University of Alberta (U of A) has received backlash from several student groups after deciding against firing a professor who denied the Ukranian genocide.
Student groups including the Ukrainian Students’ Society (USS) and the Students’ Union at the U of A have released statements expressing their disappointment with the administration of the university for having allowed professor Dougal MacDonald to retain his position.
In November 2019, Professor MacDonald posted on Facebook about the Holodomor, the Ukrainian genocide of 1932-33, calling it “a myth concocted by the Hitlerite Nazis to discredit the Soviet Union,” according to an article written by The Gateway.
The USS at the U of A pursued action against the lecturer, asking for “immediate reprimand and termination,” as reported by The Gateway.
However, the university decided not to pursue any punitive action against MacDonald.
In December 2019, the deans of education and arts released a joint statement clarifying the position of the U of A on this matter.
“While the University of Alberta holds strongly to the values of freedom of expression, which allow members of our community to express their ideas, we also hold strongly to the values of evidence-based research and a quest for truth.” – statement from u of a
“We don’t want this sort of educator on our campus,” said Megan Brownlee, president of the USS.
Brownlee said that not all students on campus are of the same opinion and they believe “he doesn’t deserve to lose his position at the U of A over this.”
The implications of genocide denial are closely linked with the blurred lines between hate speech and freedom of expression. In 1990, high school teacher James Keegstra expressed anti-Semetic ideas and doubted the occurrence of the Holocaust. His case was taken to the Supreme Court of Canada.
University of Ottawa professor John Packer is the director of the human rights research and education centre and sits on the board of advisors for genocide watch.
“There is no doubt about the huge loss of life and the intentional elements of the Holodomor,” said Packer.
“I think it’s irrelevant what he thinks. In a free society we’re allowed to hold a wide range [of ideas] and express these ideas.
“Now the cultural element of the denial, I applaud and I encourage that political engagement of the students. The culture we have developed in Canada is based on broad, open society, inclusiveness and rule of law,” he added.
In the Keegstra case, the infringement of the freedom of expression as per Section 2(b) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms was presented as a valid argument by the defendant against charges of “willfully promoting hatred” as per the Criminal Code of Canada, according to Columbia University’s Global Freedom of Expression website.
“The freedom of expression (as a human right) and academic freedom (as an essential scholarly entitlement) are matters of principle and of crucial instrumental importance,” said Packer.
He added that in an academic context, what one discovers through research need not be liked if it needs to be addressed in a scholarly setting, but is instead “a matter of respecting the parameters of genuine scholarship – of science in method and ethos.”
“We [members of the Ukrainian community at the U of A] all see it as hate speech; he shouldn’t be able to freely and publicly express it without consequence,” said Brownlee when asked about where the line should be drawn between freedom of expression and hate speech.
She added that students were “worried that he might have a bias against Ukrainian students.”
“Very few human rights are absolute and the freedom of expression is not absolute,” said Packer. “Freedom of speech comes substantially limited.”
Featured image by Tim Austen.
