A former member of a student association at Concordia University has filed a complaint with the Quebec Human Rights Commission against two of her past colleagues.

The woman, who was elected to the executive of the Arts and Science Faculty Association (ASFA) in 2013, claims she was the victim of repeated sexist and racist remarks.

The university is now looking into the matter.

CTV News, in an agreement to maintain her anonymity, is calling her Mei-Ling.

She said she found Facebook chats referring to her in racist terms.

“They referred to me as a ‘chink slave’ because of my Chinese nationality,” Mei-Ling told CTV, adding that they depicted her in sexually explicit acts.

“I found repeated vicious, sexually explicit slandering against women and Chinese women, about me.”

Mei-Ling is proud of her Chinese and Italian heritage, but shortly after being elected to AFSA, she began feeling targeted by two male colleagues

“They made me feel like I didn't belong because of my sex, because of my gender and I didn't know why,” she said.

Mei-Ling was told by her fellow executive members to simply ignore the verbal taunts. She attempted that, until she stumbled upon a Facebook chat between the two men on an association’s computer.

“I was extremely shocked,” she said. “I shook. I went home and I started crying to myself.”

She brought screenshots to the university's dean of students, who referred her to Concordia's Office of Rights and Responsibilities.

“She told me there was nothing she could do because the conversations were private,” explained Mei-Ling.

Concordia’s Centre for Gender and Advocacy, however, disagreed.

“Regardless of if you say it out loud or spend hours talking about it on Facebook, if you think that if someone doesn't give you sexual favours, that you will impeach that person, that will have an impact on how you interact with that person, and how you’ll interact with everybody,” said Gabrielle Bouchard, the peer support and trans advocacy coordinator for the centre.

The Centre for Research Action on Race Relations (CRARR) also disagreed with the office.


“Is it really private when the computer is in the office, accessible to anyone on the executive?” said Fo Niemi, CRARR’s executive director.

With CRARR's help, Mei-Ling has now filed a complaint with the Quebec Human Rights Commission against the two men.

Although it doesn't name the university, “I think the university really needs to reassess the way it deals with this, especially after the scandal at Dalhousie’s dentistry school especially after the scandal in University of Ottawa, where the president of the student association was also exposed to sexist insults and threats,” said Niemi.

On Wednesday, Concordia University President Alan Shepard released a statement, which said: 

I am deeply troubled by the reports I read online last night and we are looking into the circumstances of the university’s response.

Any sexist and racist behaviour is deplorable and must be condemned.

The safety of our community is paramount. This is why, in December, I requested a review of our sexual assault policy – a process that includes the issue of sexual harassment. Our review will provide recommendations on simplifying the process for reporting and combatting such behaviour.

The social media landscape is still relatively new territory for universities and we are all finding our footing. We are grappling with ways to deal with unacceptable behaviour within this new reality. Questions of what is private and what is personal, as well as where universities have the power to intervene, must be addressed.

Members of our community have resources available to them when such issues arise. Each case is different and there are different options for responding to these situations.

We regret that we may not have communicated these options clearly enough to our student. We have reached out to her to provide our support.

We are committed to creating a safe environment for everyone and combatting racist and sexist behaviour.

ASFA did not respond to requests for an interview.

Mei-Ling said this is about more than just herself.

“I'm fighting for an open conversation about rape culture and sexism and racism in universities,” she said.