Translation to English, with censorship of N-words:

Monitored Freedoms

As professors at the University of Ottawa, we wish to express our disagreement with the
treatment of Professor Verushka Lieutenant-Duval by our institution. Two aspects seem to be
conflated in this unfortunate case: 1) racism on campus, micro-aggressions, and the sometimes
unintentional but nonetheless real discrimination of which minorities are victims, which must be
denounced; 2) the role of university teaching, of the professors and the classrooms, which is to
nourish reflection, develop critical thinking skills, and to allow everyone, regardless of their
position, to have the right to speak out.

Let us recall some of the fundamental principles of university teaching.

While every professor must be sensitive to the realities of the different students in their class, the
university remains, nonetheless, a place of debate, as well as a place of exploration of the
realities of history, particularly the history of ideas, many of which will conflict with the doxa of
the moment.

The classroom (physical or virtual) cannot become a place free from the weights of history,
ideas, and their representations. It is therefore inevitable that certain readings, certain concepts,
even certain words will clash with susceptibilities. The university is precisely the place to reflect
on this reality, to historicize it, to free itself scientifically from the tyranny of both majorities and
presentism.

Let us take the example of Pierre Vallières, perhaps the most inclusive of independent
intellectuals, alongside Gérald Godin. If this great essayist was writing today, after the collective
questioning linked to cultural appropriation, he would definitely choose another title than "White
N*****s [CENSORED] of America". In 1965, the issue was posed differently, and the author
chose this title in homage to Léopold Sédar Senghor, to Aimé Césaire, to Frantz Fanon, and out
of solidarity with the members of the Black Panthers that he was with in his American
imprisonment. Similarly, Dany Laferrière challenges stereotypes in his first novel, whose very
title, "How to Make Love to a N***o [CENSORED] Without Getting Tired," is provocative. Is it
not the role of the university to put these realities into perspective? To teach these works and so
many others that allow us to think about the world? This fundamental mission would be difficult,
to say the least, in the context of supervised academic freedoms, where a professor (like
Catherine Russell of Concordia University) would have to withdraw her course for mentioning
the sole title of Vallières' essay (not to mention the fate of journalist Wendy Mesley, suspended
by the CBC after quoting the English translation of the same title).

Finally, it is important that university administrations, while participating in the uncovering and
abolition of all forms of systemic racism, ensure that they protect the transmission of knowledge,
the development of critical thinking skills and academic freedom, a freedom which can
sometimes be exercised to the detriment of clientelism, but which is part of any true liberation.