“I was vilified and dehumanized. I was suspended from work without pay for 7 months and banned from campus, because I expressed an opinion on my blog.”

A witch hunt: Dr. Rima Azar, Canadian psychologist and professor

Dr. Rima Azar is a Lebanese born, Canadian psychologist and professor of health psychology at Mount Allison University in Sackville, NB.

An accomplished academic in her field, she was the co-founder and co-director of NaviCare/SoinsNavi, a former holder of Canadian Institute of Health Research New Investigator Salary Award in developmental psychoneuroimmunology, co-lead of the New Brunswick strategy of patient-oriented research network, and a former board member for the Canadian Institute of Health Research Advisory and the Institute of Human Development, Child and Youth Health.

Azar is no stranger to fear, oppression, and censorship. She grew up in the thick of the Lebanese Civil War that continued on throughout her teenage years. On a recent podcast, she shares a story about hiding from Lebanese soldiers in the bathroom of her elementary school. The soldiers were taking all the children out of class, to the town square, where they were instructed to cheer on a political candidate. Rima knew it was wrong, and even at that young age she would not be coerced into taking a political stance.

Azar has lived in Canada for more than 30 years. She spent 15 years living in Quebec, four years in Ontario, and has now been in New Brunswick for over 13 years. Her heart and soul love Canada. She is the quintessential example of a Canadian: an individual who left her mother country in search for a better life and freedom, who landed here, who found freedom and opportunity, who built her life here, and who loves this country. She doesn’t believe that Canada is a systemically racist country—if it were, how would she have made it? This perspective is partly what got her in to trouble.

“I was suspended from work without pay for 7 months, and banned from campus, because I expressed an opinion on my blog,” Azar shared in the fall of 2021. Contrary to the charges against her, she believes that the main language of her blog is “hope, love and respect for religions”.

Her blog is called Bambi’s Afkar (Bambi’s Thoughts); it is a play on the translation of her name, Rima, which means ‘little deer” in Lebanese. And with exceptional humility, on many occasions Azar has referred to her blog as the musings of a “silly deer.” In this online space she has created, she takes gentle, even playful tone, and explores a wide variety of topics. Sometimes the blog meanders, sometimes it’s specific. Sometimes she likes to examine news articles or decisions made by our leaders, and other times the posts have a stream of consciousness narrative style. She tends to ask questions rather than try to anchor her view as the ‘correct’ one, an approach that gets readers thinking for themselves.

While many of her political pieces have focussed on Lebanon, following the BLM riots in 2020, and the many protests they sparked across Canada, Azar began reflecting on the BLM movement and evaluating the claims that were being made about systemic racism in the country she chose.

In several posts in and around the summer of 2020, with her own experience of living under an oppressive government, Azar considers many old and new societal problems that came to light following the BLM riots. She questions the redefinition of “far-right”, wondering why anything that is not radically-left is now branded as “far-right.” She asks why there is so much censorship of dissenting voices to the movement and asks, “Are we still in a free country?” She questions the push to criminalize dissent (against the BLM movement), while the movement simultaneously attempted to disband and defund police forces all across North America. She compares these circumstances to known dictatorships, such as Iran, Saudi Arabia and China.

She writes:

NB is NOT racist. Canada is NOT racist. We do not have 'systemic' racism or 'systemic' discrimination. We just have systemic naivety because we are a young country and because we want to save the world.

When asked about her stance on some of the atrocities that have happened to immigrants in Canada over the past couple of centuries, or First Nations, she says, “We have a history I know. But [we have to think about] what we can do to fix that history in a way that is not destructive. … Love your country, love your flag. It’s a good thing.”

But in early 2021, a former student brought public attention to her posts.

Next, a very small group of people made a coordinated effort to publicly shame her, shame Mount Alison University, and call for Azar’s dismissal. In doing so, made enough noise to upset the university administration.

The attack mainly happened on Twitter, and Azar, who doesn’t have a twitter account, had no idea it was happening until a sympathetic former student called her to share the news.

Seeing that it would be hard to criminalize an Arab-Canadian woman for stating an opinion, on a personal blog, in which she expressed that she doesn’t believe Canada is a racist country, her attackers fabricated defamatory stories about her.

“I was vilified and dehumanized,” she recalls. There was no investigation. The university swiftly took action, suspending her for seven months.

“I was not allowed on campus.”

Despite that the allegations against her were false and, therefore, not substantiated, Azar was no longer permitted to work in the profession she spent her life building. During this time, she was also subjected to threats of violence.

Her suspension was finally lifted, and she returned to campus in 2022. But the ordeal is not over. Her case is now in arbitration (as of April 2022). And the painful experience, trauma, and upset lives on. Ultimately, she is left to pursue justice for herself.

“If you think about it, what did all this achieve? It’s sad that things have got to this point. I believe in freedom of expression for all. If we don’t defend each other, especially those we don’t agree with, we will all fall. … It’s a tragedy. It’s shocking that this is happening in Canada.”