By Canadian Press

Concordia University defends handling of sexual misconduct complaint

Feb 7, 2019 | 4:18 PM

MONTREAL — Concordia University is defending the way it investigates sexual misconduct allegations against its faculty after a former student accused the school of mishandling her complaint.

University spokeswoman Fiona Downey said today Quebec’s Education Department told Concordia it is in compliance with a 2017 law governing how post-secondary institutions handle complaints of sexual misconduct.

Ibi Kaslik, a novelist and University of Toronto instructor, filed a complaint with Concordia in January 2018 against an English instructor still employed at the university. She accused him of sexual misconduct when he taught her in the 1990s.

Kaslik says she heard nothing from the school for a year following her complaint. After contacting the university again last month, she was told by the school’s human resources department that action had been taken in the file but she was given no further details.

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Kaslik says she then discovered in a news report this week that the teacher had been exonerated. She calls the way Concordia handled her complaint absurd and a failure of justice, saying the teacher should be fired.

Downey says Concordia cannot comment on individual cases for privacy reasons and because it would be a violation of provincial law. Repeated attempts to contact the spokesperson for the education minister were unsuccessful.

The Canadian Press