A Queen’s professor has appeared before the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO), alleging sexist treatment in the University’s Department of Philosophy.
After years of buildup, Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy, Adèle Mercier, presented her claims regarding her two applications to the HRTO during a summary hearing on May 30.
A summary hearing determines whether the application has a reasonable prospect of success by assessing if—assuming the allegations are true—they could amount to a Code violation, and/or whether the applicant is reasonably likely to prove, on a balance of probabilities, that their Code rights were violated.
The first application, filed in 2010, alleges discrimination and reprisal after Mercier raised concerns about the treatment of women in the Department of Philosophy. The second application, filed in 2014, claims ongoing retaliation after the first complaint was submitted.
“I brought to light problems that women were having in the philosophy department,” Mercier said in an interview with The Journal. “Problems being heard, being taken seriously, and problems finding it a congenial place to be a graduate student.”
Mercier described multiple incidents she alleged took place where women students or faculty were treated unequally. In one case, she claimed a female PhD student was denied her preferred supervisor, Mercier, while all male students in the same position were granted theirs. When Mercier questioned the decision, she claimed the then Head of Department initially claimed he had consulted the student and that she had agreed to the alternative supervisor.
After Mercier spoke with the student, she claimed the student denied that this consultation ever took place. When Mercier raised the discrepancy to the Philosophy department head, she was allegedly told the student had likely been too distracted by a political revolution in her home country to remember being consulted. Later, Mercier alleged the department head admitted that no consultation had occurred.
The Journal reached out to the department head at the time for a comment on the validity of Mercier’s claims but didn’t receive a response.
In a separate case, a female master’s student was allegedly “ghosted” by her thesis supervisor and lost several terms of academic progress. According to Mercier, the University’s response was to give the student two teaching assistantships, so she could earn money while paying tuition for an extra term.
“She has two TAships, she doesn’t have time to do her work, as she says she’s spending 40 hours being a TA,” Mercier said. “It was a non-solution to a big problem.”
Mercier claimed she had initially tried to resolve the issues internally, filing a complaint with the Queen’s Human Rights office in 2009. Yet, after she claims she did not receive a response from the University after two months, she brought the case to the HRTO in 2010. The second complaint followed in 2014, documenting what she called continued reprisals, including being banned from her office in Watson Hall.
“They booted me out of my office, claiming I was a safety [threat]. I wasn’t so dangerous that I could still continue teaching hordes of innocent youth, but I was too dangerous for my colleagues,” Mercier said.
In 2019, an independent arbitrator ordered the University to pay Mercier $25,000 in damages, finding that both the investigation leading to her removal from her office at the time and the removal itself were problematic.
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In the recent summary hearing, Mercier explained that the University asked the HRTO to dismiss both applications, as she explained they argued that the complaints were filed outside of the legal time limits, which would be one year after the initial alleged incident.
Mercier, however, contends that the discrimination and reprisals form a continuing pattern, which, if true, would reset the timer within which a complaint would have to be made.
“There is a series of events that are all connected by a nexus of animus against me for filing a complaint,” she said. “Yearly, there have been reprisals against me.”
In a statement to The Journal, the University chose not to discuss the details of the case when asked to comment on the validity of Mercier’s various claims.
“This is a Human Resources matter that is before a third-party administrative tribunal. The University will not comment,” Queen’s wrote.
While Mercier explained she’s hopeful for a ruling in the coming months that would grant her an official hearing, she’s still unsure about whether it will take place.
“I have to hope that there’s a proper hearing, because that’s what it means to be hopeful that we live in a law-abiding society. Am I certain that we do? You know, my faith is challenged,” Mercier said.
Tags
Adèle Mercier, First Year in Focus, HRO, HRTO, sexism
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