An arbitrator has ruled that while Mount Royal University overstepped by dismissing Frances Widdowson, who critics have called a “residential school denialist,” her actions since “irreparably damaged” her relationship with MRU so badly that she doesn’t get to have her job back. 

Instead Widdowson will be getting a still-to-be-determined payout. 

Widdowson, a tenured professor, first drew attention in September of 2020 when in an interview for Derek Fildebrandt’s far-right media platform, The Western Standard, she claimed that Black Lives Matter had “destroyed MRU.” Widdowson also publicly rejected the conclusions of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that the residential school system was genocidal, saying it gave Indigenous children an education that “normally they wouldn’t have received.”

Widdowson had been an associate professor at Mount Royal University in the department of economics, justice and policy studies since 2008. 

While Widdowson told the media in 2022 that she was fired for criticizing woke ideas, the arbitration decision provides the reason why she was dismissed: she had harassed her colleagues on social media, filed a complaint in bad faith against one of them, and had overall created a harassing and toxic workplace environment in her department.

This was one of the tweets that was found to constitute harassment. 

The MRU faculty association, Widdowson’s official representatives in the discipline process and arbitration hearings, argued that the dismissal was improper and didn’t follow the processes laid out in the collective agreement. The faculty association also said that Widdowson did not violate the Personal Harassment Policy or the Code of Conduct and that Widdowson did not contribute to a harassing and toxic workplace environment 

The faculty association also said that “terminating a tenured professor as a result of a few months of Twitter dust-up is grossly disproportionate,” and that she would be able to continue in her job. 

According to the decision these investigations “clearly identified issues of serious concern to MRU,” and “Widdowson resolutely refused to take any responsibility for her actions, and had no remorse for the situations she had created. 

Ultimately the arbitrator found that while Widdowson’s comments rose to the level of requiring discipline, dismissal from her job was not justified. However, the arbitrator then went on to rule that—now that Widdowson had been dismissed—“the employment relationship is not viable,” and reversing her firing would not be appropriate.

“She does not accept the investigation reports’ findings of harassment, the basis for her discipline, the seriousness of the issues, or any responsibility for her conduct; and she is not willing to change her ways in the future in order to work collaboratively with her work place colleagues. A number of the witnesses at the hearing testified that Dr Widdowson’s return to work on the campus would be disruptive. As her own testimony indicates, she had a difficult relationship with the Faculty Association, which she described as “ideologically captured, compromising its ability to fairly represent [her],” reads the decision. 

The arbitrator detailed more reasons on why Widdowson could not return to her job in his decision. 

“Her post-termination conduct in her blogs and websites demonstrate a hostility to the University and to colleagues in the University.”

Screenshot from interview Frances Widdowson did with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy on Youtube on July 18, 2023.

“Her behaviour at the arbitration hearing, which required re-deploying the set up of the room to distance her from witnesses, and required an admonition not to address them during their testimony.”

This grievance, which is still not complete, took more than 2.5 years to get to this point. The arbitrator’s decision is nearly 300 pages and there were 31 total hearings. Both parties are making submissions to the arbitrator, who will decide on the level of payout at a later date.