Former Concordia student drops CRARR

Fo Niemi (left), director of CRARR, with Mei Ling (right) in 2015. Mei Ling’s case was one of several complaints to the Quebec human rights commission

The human rights organization had announced they would represent student

The Centre for Research-action on Race Relations (CRARR) announced that as of Jan. 18 they are no longer representing a former Concordia student’s on-campus battle of an alleged 2015 sexual assault.

CRARR, which represented Mei Ling, is no longer representing Cathy. Photo by Marie-Pierre Savard.
CRARR, which represented Mei Ling, is no longer representing Cathy. Photo by Marie-Pierre Savard.

The human rights organization announced on Friday that they accepted the mandate of representing Cathy—a pseudonym used to protect her identity. However, Cathy has asked for CRARR to no longer represent her.

Concordia received a formal complaint against Cathy’s ex-boyfriend on March 24, 2015. Since then, the university has not set a solid date for her tribunal. The case is being held through Concordia due to one of the two assaults having taken place on campus. The first attack took place at her apartment in September of 2014 with the following attack taking places on campus in February.

A CRARR press release shared on their website on Monday said the organization “has been informed of her wish not to further act in her case.”

Executive director Fo Niemi declined to comment out of respect for Cathy’s privacy. However, he did encourage “women in that situation to come forward. We are available to help anyone.”

Cathy’s tribunal has been postponed multiple times due to probationary orders, the defendant being out of province and issues conflicting her ex-boyfriends restraining order. The conflicts of the restraining order include having both Cathy and her ex-boyfriend in the same room. While the press release stated CRARR would no longer represent Cathy, it did not say if the entire case will be dropped or not.

CRARR is the same organization which helped Mei Ling in the racial and sexual harassment case against two former ASFA executives. CRARR has represented Mei Ling since she filed the complaint in March 2015. A settlement was approved for an undisclosed amount of monetary compensation and an official apology from ASFA. Although the complaints towards ASFA have reached an agreement, the Quebec human rights commission is still investigating the two executives responsible for harassing Mei Ling. CRARR has also represented Concordia student Rose Tandel in a $60,000 lawsuit against Le Gym after refusing her boss’ request to stop a Muslim co-worker from praying in May 2013. The case is still ongoing.

An internal study by the university released in September recommended that Concordia create an all-encompassing policy on sexual violence. Those recommendations are expected to be implemented by the end of the 2015-2016 academic year.

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