On September 14th 2006, five students (from Ontario, Quebec, France/Kenya, Panama and Brazil) were expelled from Pearson College. A fellow student had turned us in for smoking pot on September 11th 2006 (the night before classes started). Said student based her testimony off of something she DID NOT see when walking through the forest that night with the director's son, and off of what I DID NOT say to her during a conversation that made her very mad.
The five students were brought in the morning of September 14th. We were questioned in seperate rooms by the director and a witness. We did not have a student adovcate, which we have since learned we are supposed to have the option of having with us. We did not know that at the time.
I was questioned first. I confessed when they threatened to have the RCMP search my room and have me do a drug test; I wanted to keep the police out of it and I figured the consequences would be lesser if I confessed rather than been proved a liar.
We all eventually confessed out of confusion and because of information that David Hawley, the director, threatened out of us (threatening the police on foreign students will often get them talking). We also all used the logic that things will often work out better when you just tell the truth.
The five of us were brought into a room. David said we would have a 24-hour grace period in which we should get ready to leave, but a decision would be made until the end of it. We brought forward something that we noticed within the policy, that all students involved in illegal drug activity are to be "immediately dismissed from the college". We proposed that he dismiss us, and readmit us later. As 'dismissed' was not clearly defined, it would not be a break of policy. He said this was an idea that he would have to run past the board, but it was very possible. There would be a board meeting on November 2 in Toronto and we could present it there; if the policy was changed we could be readmitted as it would not be acting retroactively, it would simply be giving an answer to the definition of 'dismissed'. He then went to a faculty meeting to present what had happened and our idea. We have since learned from faculty that he was clear in this meeting that we were never coming back, however upon his return he seemed positive about having us back... that was, after he told the Canadians they would be off-campus within hours and on a plane tonight, and the others would be going to host families until they could fly home. No more 24-hour grace period.
We had a village meeting, in which David said many things, including having weekly meetings until they could solve this and get us back, and that having us back was a possibility. After we were gone, his view was changed quite a bit on this. As well, his conversations with us all end in him accusing us of misunderstanding him.
We packed, and had to call our families. David promised to call my parents back with flight plans, but he never did. My parents called back after I had already left the campus, and they wouldn't give them flight plans because they no longer had them. The Quebec student, forced to fly out that night, did not manage to get ahold of his parents. They also did not ask the student what would be the best airport to fly to. As a result, he flew to Montreal (some hundreds of kilometres away from home, and he did not have bus money). He is still living in Montreal with friends.
The student from France/India/Kenya went to Montreal a day or so later, as she no longer had family in France or India, and her mother was teaching in Kenya (a country she had never been to) and had no place for her. Her mother wanted her to stay in Canada, as it would be impossible for her to finish her education elsewhere. Said student flew back to Victoria under the impression that one of the staff members was going to help her, because she was in such a dire situation and unable to finish her education even in Montreal. However, within a couple of days, David had her on a plane for Kenya. She did not want to go there, her mother did not want her to go there. She cannot finish her education there and she doesn't have money to get out of the country.
The student from Brazil had hoped to stay in Victoria or Vancouver for a longer time to work with a lawyer and look at legal possibilities while studying for Brazilian university entrance exams. She was going to fly back to Brazil in December. David ordered her out of the country by the end of the week. Does he have the right to do that?Since this, Jerry Salvador (Dean of Students) was supposed to send me my belongings... about a month ago. I have not received them, he will not answer my emails or phonecalls about them. David will not answer any of our questions about why we were threatened amongst many other questions. The French student and Quebecois student are in dire situations where they may not be able to start university for what looks like a few years. Pearson College said that they would help us find alternative education, but they haven't. They said that if we needed help paying IB fees, they would do it (as our schoarlships are still promised to us), but they took back this offer.
As soon as we were off campus, stories changed.