Some young medical professsionals in Quebec may have questionable views on people struggling with mental illness, along with the place of Jewish and Black people—and other minorities—both in medicine and in society.
B’nai Brith Canada recently pulled the curtain back on a group channel, hosted on the social media platform Discord, in which a group of Quebec students engaged in antisemitic, racist, misogynistic and homophobic rhetoric over the last few months. The revelation has drawn outrage across Quebec.
Screenshots of the thousands of comments and responses are circulating widely, with more than 100 pages of jokes about Anne Frank; comments about women suffering menstrual cramps and vomiting during surgery; and questions over women’s place in medicine. Some of the posts featured Islamist rhetoric and students discussing whether to boost acceptance odds in medical school by identifying as Black, gay or poor.
B’nai Brith first posted some of the screenshots of the “MedServer” group last week, after being tipped off by a parent of a medical school applicant. Since then, the matter has gone viral. The two-year-old account has been deactivated by the Discord platform following voluminous complaints.
More than 1,400 applicants to Quebec medical schools, as well as currently enrolled medical school students, were in the group, which was ostensibly set up to support CEGEP and university students preparing for admission to Quebec’s four medical programs. A casual observer might be shocked to see suggested advice on how to best frame a response to interview questions including jokes about Anne Frank or riffing on legislating Jews out of the field as a “final solution.”
“We were surprised how stupid they were”
“I saw it, and it’s vile,” said Lior Bibas, a Quebec cardiologist and president of the Quebec Jewish Physicians Association (AMJQ). “We were not surprised at the level of antisemitism and racism being expressed on social media, but we were surprised how stupid they were to say this publicly,” he said, noting how brazenly some of the commentators expressed themselves, either through the use of Islamist rhetoric, Nazi-era imagery, referring to Anne Frank as “the rat in the attic,” and keeping Jews and women out of the profession.
Quebec’s beleaguered health ministry would not comment, saying the issue was a matter for the ethics code of the Quebec College of Physicians.
“Your question relates to the code of ethics that physicians must comply with in the practice of their profession,” said spokesperson Marie-Pierre Blier, who, instead of addressing a query about screening of medical school applicants, referred The CJN to the college and individual medical faculties. The college promised to reply to The CJN, but no response was received before press time.
Bibas says his group is concerned, “not only as Jewish doctors and professionals, but for Jewish patients who are more than ever concerned with who they’re meeting.” As for the overt racism expressed by some 30 medical students and applicants online, Bibas says medical schools need a system beyond interviews and grades “to screen for these people. People who have good grades and do well in interviews can just get through, but this is disqualifying behaviour for me. Someone like this cannot be a physician.”
The CJN queried Quebec’s four medical faculties—McGill, Université de Laval, Université de Sherbrooke and Université de Montréal—asking each if there are processes in place to screen for such behaviour by aspiring medical students, and if any code of conduct at the student level makes such behaviour a disqualifying factor for medical studies.
The CJN also queried the administrations, including McGill president Deep Saini and medical school dean Lesley Fellows; Université de Montréal’s dean Patrick Cossette; and Sherbrooke’s Dominique Dorion. None replied, despite repeated requests for comment. A spokesperson for Université de Laval pledged to reply to the query days after receiving it, but no response has been forthcoming.
Finally, a brief statement was delivered by Université de Montréal on behalf of all four schools, stating, “Quebec’s four faculties of medicine do not tolerate hate speech. Our universities have equity, diversity and inclusion policies that provide that hateful, discriminatory or incitement to violence will not be tolerated in our communities under any circumstances.” As for the unacceptable comments on the page mentioned, the statement said, “it has not been brought to our attention that any students admitted were authors. If this is the case, the policies and regulations in place allow us to act in our communities.”
The faculties did not comment on screening processes.
B’nai Brith’s regional director for Quebec and Atlantic Canada, Henry Topas, said the organization posted the slurs last Thursday, May 8, to expose them to a broader audience.
“Students, parents, medical professionals, people in admissions departments and professors need to see that these types of people are identified. What is most frightening to consider is,” he says, “’Do you want this person treating you?’”
Topas said it was with the help of other students that some of the individuals have been identified, but B’nai Brith is not disclosing any more information. The accounts use pseudonyms like “Paul Goyim”, “Medgooner”, “ehouais”, some first names and other tags. It is not known if any of the posters do so under multiple identities.
Doctors Against Racism and Antisemitism (DARA), which has been circulating screenshots of the offending materials, said in a statement, “These messages are the direct result of the inaction and prolonged silence of medical school and university leaders across Canada since October 7, 2023, in the face of the meteoric rise of antisemitism in their institutions. Silence is no longer an option. Quebec’s medical schools and universities must act immediately. These candidates must not be admitted to medical school.”
‘Beyond forgiveness’
The document they have distributed says at least one is a Dawson College student, and one a current medical student. Those who are already in medical school must be expelled, they say.
“The future of medical ethics is at stake. The response must be immediate, clear, and firm. Public trust cannot rest on these individuals. They should never be licensed to practice medicine in Quebec or anywhere else in Canada.”
Dr. Philip Berger, a DARA member and associate professor emeritus at University of Toronto, agrees, telling The CJN the several dozen perpetrators who posted the most offensive material “are beyond rehabilitation and redemption… I know there should always be room for forgiveness, but I believe at this point they are beyond forgiveness. Those who can be identified should obviously be investigated, but I cannot see a legitimate, bona fide excuse or explanation for any student included in those comments to be medical students.”
Since Oct. 7, 2023, says Berger, “there’s been a free flow, really, an avalanche of anti-Israel propaganda, relentlessly sliding into Canadian medical faculties and on university campuses. It’s also clear from seeing it regularly in the streets across Canada.” As shocking as these posts are to him, he says it should be noted that the loathing of Jews “would extend unrestrained to other groups, including Indigenous people, Black, trans people and women.”
He is particularly revolted by the latter, “because I’m quite familiar with the disadvantages and discrimination against women” in society and in medicine, Berger says. “I’ve seen it, personally. I’ve seen how things have improved somewhat, but to see aspiring medical students and current medical students mocking women about menstruating? In medicine? It’s absolutely outrageous.”
Bibas says the AMJQ will be reaching out to medical schools and the Collège des médecins “to explain and make them understand the rise of antisemitism and where we are today; that this is not happening elsewhere and it’s not going to get better once the war ends. It’s not going away. These people cannot be in medicine. Our society needs to make sure every patient feels safe. Med school acceptances are coming out any week now, so are these the people that are going to be there in a few years?”
Provincial battle
The controversy comes amid the drama unfurling between the Quebec government and the province’s doctors, with tense negotiations on patient enrolments and more, as some one million Quebecers remain without access to family physicians. That, in addition to the pitiful state of some of its largest hospitals, highlighted earlier this month when a power failure threw a Montreal intensive care unit and operating rooms into darkness, while an oncology radiology lab was shut down over rain infiltration.
The CJN spoke with a first-year undergrad student who is applying to one of Montreal’s faculties next year, who would not give their name for fear of retribution from racist students, admissions staff, as well as faculty, something Bibas told The CJN earlier this year is not uncommon. “Of course I’m disgusted” the student said. “But we shouldn’t be shocked because insulting some minorities is already acceptable on campus if you are loud enough. It’s not impossible to figure out who these clowns are, even if they are not throwing around the N-word like they do online. If they show up in schools next year, then we’ll know the administrations don’t care.”
Berger, who has denounced inaction on antisemitism in academia, says any students who are flagged should be banned until “they can demonstrate that they would not be dangerous to women and other groups who are minorities in Canada… It’s disappointing to see the silence of medical associations right across the country. Because these students, if they get medical licenses, can practice anywhere across Canada, and it implicates faculties of medicine and licensing bodies across the country.”
“As medical professionals,” says Bibas, “we treat patients from all walks of life. I treat everybody: Jews, Palestinians, everybody, and we need to get that out as doctors. Remember, these people are not only a danger for Jewish patients but to any minority who may be treated by them… discrimination has no place in medicine, period.”
On English Montreal radio May 12, Topas deplored that “there are no consequences for racism in this city, especially if it’s antisemitic.
“There is an air of permissibility in this city. See what’s going on downtown, hate speech is all over the place, and no one is putting an end to it,” Topas told host Elias Makos.
Dawson College told The Montreal Gazette that there is an investigation into the matter but would not, as a rule, confirm the identity or involvement of any Dawson student on any matter. Nor would Montreal police confirm that a criminal complaint has been filed.
Federation CJA and CIJA were alerted by students and community members about the hateful chats. “This behaviour involves potential future medical professionals who will have the responsibility for the wellbeing of their patients. There must be an investigation into those who engaged in this hateful behaviour and proper sanctions should be imposed” reads a joint statement. “We stand by the impacted students and reiterate that rising hatred and hate incidents require an all-of-society approach to protect our values as Quebeckers and our society.”
