A teacher in McGill’s music department is suing the Montreal university for $300,000 claiming he was passed over for a prestigious job.
In the lawsuit filed on June 6 at Quebec Superior Court, conductor and instructor Jonathan Dagenais alleges several experts agreed he was the most qualified candidate by far but that because of his race, he wasn’t chosen.
None of the allegations have been proven in court and McGill University has not yet delivered a statement of defence setting out its response to Dagenais’ allegations.
Dagenais, a white man, is a well-respected conductor for multiple orchestras, including the McGill Wind Orchestra. He’s a teacher at the university’s Schulich School of Music.