Human Misunderstandings

"The comments, even taken at face value, were not meant to intimidate. That they are boorish are (sic) obvious."
"The comments are, of course, inappropriate -- and that's the most polite words I can find -- but they do not display a present intent to intimidate. I am not presiding over a civil trial."
Justice Gilles Renaud, Ottawa Court

That the comments in question were merely boorish and not threatening in nature so as to make them "intimidating" might have seen a different interpretation if it had been the judge who was the object of a University of Ottawa geography professor's threatening ire, not the man whom the suggestive threats were directed against. They appeared to the issuer of those veiled threats to be entirely appropriate to his state of mind regarding Professor Marc Brosseau who headed the department of geography at University of Ottawa last year.

The two men, both in the department of geography, one with obvious seniority over the other, appeared initially to enjoy an amicable relationship. Peoples' relationships with one another change invariably when they do come across the realization that they do not, after all, share values and opinions and priorities, and a distance opens between them. Professor Brosseau's original "cordial and collegial" relations with Abdou Bannari underwent just such a change.

According to Professor Brosseau "the relationship became embittered" when Professor Banneri did not find himself in agreement with decisions that Professor Brosseau made as the chair of graduate studies. It would appear that Professor Brosseau sat on a committee which unfortunately passed on a promotion recommendation for Professor Bannari. That would, admittedly, raise anyone's ire, particularly someone who had reason to feel he shared a good relationship with the man who could aid his career trajectory.

Subsequently in the summer of 2012, another colleague confided to Professor Brosseau that Professor Bannari felt "persecuted", and had during discussions brought up the name Fabrikant, a professor at Concordia University who had felt similarly slighted and overlooked for promotion and who had expressed his anger by killing four of his colleagues in a shooting rampage in 1992. Professor Brosseau was very well aware that Valery Fabrikant had first killed his department head.

Yet another professor informed Professor Brosseau that Professor Bannari who was also her friend, spoke of understanding just what had motivated Valerie Fabrikant to act as he had done. Having heard this additional comment, Professor Brosseau felt he had reason to be concerned. "If his friend is worried about it, I have reason to fear", he commented. Fearful enough to cancel a class, and be excused from an assembly. And then Professor Bannari was banned from campus and he breathed easy again.

Informed by the dean that Professor Bannari had returned to campus, Professor Brosseau undertook to cancel two weeks of classes. "Then I was deeply afraid. If he's not taking seriously a prohibition from the highest administration, he's unpredictable." The judge, while sympathizing with Professor Brosseau's concerns, felt that no criminal law had been breached. "The comments are, of course, inappropriate -- and that's the most polite words I can find -- but they do not display a present intent to intimidate. I am not presiding over a civil trial".

That, even though one witness had testified that Professor Bannari had bruited about the question of whether he might decide to settle the matter "in the street with a revolver", though he later amended that statement, uncertain whether the word "revolver" had been voiced, or whether Professor Bannari had taken to mimicking a gun, signing with his hand. Charges against Professor Bannari were laid by the fearful Professor Brosseau.

Abdou Bannari was acquitted of threatening to destroy university property with explosives when he informed two university employees in human resources that he was an Arab man armed with dynamite. Disarming the situation when he revealed by opening his jacket that he was not, after all, armed with anything more dangerous than his tongue. Just kidding, folks. And, of course, he was also acquitted of threatening to kill Dr. Brosseau, the summer of 2012.

"The university will assess the verdict and its impact before making any comments", said University of Ottawa spokesperson Caroline Milliard, responding that it was too early to comment on Professor Bannari's future employment with the university.