Saudi medical residents allege ‘discrimination, reprisal, and intimidation’
A complaint has been filed against the University of Ottawa with the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal, by three medical residents. Drs. Waleed AlGhaithy, Khalid Aba-Alkhail and Manal Al-Saigh, are alleging “discrimination, reprisal, and intimidation,” according to a press release distributed by the Students’ Appeal Centre on Sunday.
The appeal centre has scheduled a press conference for 10:30am Wednesday in the central administration building where further details of the complaint will be made public. The media release stated that “The evidence for reprisal and targeting is unambiguous in the form of emails between hospital executives, including emails leaked by an inside source and sent to hundreds of faculty and residents.” AlGaithy, the release adds, “was summarily dismissed despite his outstanding academic and professional standing.”
Appeals centre director Mireille Gervais suggested to the Ottawa Citizen that the alleged discrimination is related to the ethnicity of the three complainants, all of whom are from Saudi Arabia. “It’s in line with what we’ve been seeing at this institution,” she said. When the Citizen contacted the university for comment, a communications director said, “We’re bound by confidentiality, so I can’t really discuss any of the details of these cases.”