Ahmad Mousattat is a second-year medical student at the Université de Sherbrooke. You might recall that he has come under fire lately because of claims he made antisemitic comments in a private social media chat group. Mousattat’s fiery response was directed at the accusations made by the organization Jewish Clinicians Against Antisemitism. He responded by sending a lawyer’s letter accusing them of publishing defamatory allegations, without evidence, that jeopardize his good name. The near-fatal incident has led to investigations by Dawson College and the Quebec Ministry of Higher Education.
Mousattat gained recognition after winning the Lieutenant-governor’s Youth Medal while enrolled in an enriched health sciences program at Dawson College last spring. On May 1 Dawson publicly announced that he had been awarded this distinction following a special ceremony held in Laval on April 26. He was highlighted on Dawson’s website for his humanitarian work and cited extensively.
When Atar Mousattat wrote to The Gazette in June, she suggested that Jewish Clinicians Against Antisemitism weren’t credible. His comments come in the wake of hundreds of complaints related to an alleged social media group chat. This group supposedly featured extremely vile and racist remarks. Yet according to one internal report, the volume of hateful comments failed to cross the line into incitement of violence.
On May 9, 2025, Dawson College in Montreal received an anonymous email warning of a possible shooting and responded accordingly. After deleting all mentions of Mousattat from their website, they set up a meeting with him. Under questioning during this meeting, he admitted to writing several of these messages. He discussed his role in the group chat.
Dawson’s investigation found many of the comments inappropriate, but they didn’t rise to the level of inciting violence. A spokesperson from Université de Sherbrooke remarked, “After analyzing the credible evidence gathered, the investigation did not find that the student had made the hateful and discriminatory comments reported by the group Jewish Clinicians Against Antisemitism.”
Éric Lavoie, MD, professor and vice-dean of the undergraduate medical program at Université de Sherbrooke. He further committed to providing “appropriate, accessible and supported” healing to all who are impacted by the unfolding situation, including Mousattat himself.
As the controversy played out, a Dawson College parent wrote to third reading concerned about the atmosphere on campus. Input justification CONTINUE READING →As one other parent noted, “The dude is brave all by himself. He even carried a prayer rug with him on the first day of school!
Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry has ordered an inquiry. This focus forms the basis of the inquiry into the complaints against Mousattat at both Dawson and Vanier colleges. Our investigation will be to find out everything possible about this case. Second, it touches on Mousattat’s educational experience and his participation in the Islamic Relief USA humanitarian delegations.
