The dangers of ‘anti-mask’ rhetoric
Negative framing of masking threatens the right to protest safely and endangers public health
Recently, there has been an increase in pressure against masking for many activists both inside and outside Concordia University.
At the start of the academic year, Concordia publicized its pre-existing behavioural guidelines on its website, including the Policy on Campus Public Safety and Security which states that “the wearing of a mask or clothing with the intent to conceal one’s identity is not permitted.”
According to a spokesperson for Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) Concordia, who was granted anonymity for safety reasons, masks serve as a way for activists to protect themselves.
“The role of the mask is to protect students from doxxing,” the spokesperson said.
Recently, a number of student associations criticized Concordia President Graham Carr in regards to a statement he made on Jan. 30. The statement touched on the use of masks at a special general meeting (SGM) where a majority of students present voted in favour of two Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) motions.
In the statement, Carr claimed that “the presence of heavily masked individuals” was “deeply troubling” and “unacceptable on campus.”
On Feb. 6, the administration announced it was launching an investigation into the Concordia Student Union, in part due to allegations of the presence of “heavily masked individuals” at the SGM that “created an intimidating climate.”
Those opposed to masking often defend their position by arguing that easily identifying those who engage in unlawful acts is a means for ensuring public safety. Masks are in turn blamed for enabling acts of violence during protests.
According to the SPHR spokesperson, one of the main demands of the BDS motion is for the university to defend student activists from sanctions.
“Defend means defending and protecting the students,” the spokesperson said. “The university has the duty to protect students from doxxing.”
The spokesperson added that student protesters have resorted to the protection of masks because of a lack of protection from the university.
In terms of “anti-mask” policies, the spokesperson believes that it’s no surprise that countries that have been “founded on the bones of Indigenous people,” like Canada, are “working against the oppressed people of the world.”
In 2013, Bill C-309 made it a criminal offence “to wear a mask or other disguise to conceal one’s identity while taking part in a riot or an unlawful assembly,” with a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison if convicted.
In 2012, at the height of the student protests against tuition hikes, Montreal bylaw P-6 was amended to prohibit masking at public protests.
During a news conference, then-Montreal mayor Gérald Tremblay, said, "When a cause is just, why is it necessary to hide behind a mask?"
The controversial bylaw was repealed in 2019 under Mayor Valérie Plante’s administration after it was found unconstitutional by the Quebec Superior Court. But, to this day, aversion to masked protesting persists.
In a radio interview following an anti-NATO protest on Nov. 22, 2024, SPVM Chief Fady Dagher said police used to be able to intercept masked protesters before they could do any damage, thanks to bylaw P-6. Mayor Plante said she sympathized with the police officers who were having trouble identifying protesters. Both Plante and Dagher said face coverings worn by protesters delayed arrests.
For Dr. Norma M. Rantisi, a professor at the department of geography, planning and environment at Concordia, masking is essential. She believes masks “should be encouraged rather than criminalized or banned,” because they protect public health and keep people safe from repression.
She added that in the context of heightened surveillance, policing and doxxing, as well as the pandemic and flu season, masking is important for protecting high-risk populations and people’s right to publicly voice concerns.
“There is a selective and biased use of 'anti-mask' rhetoric by public officials, security personnel, and university administrations, with protests related to social justice—particularly Palestine solidarity—being disproportionately targeted,” Rantisi said. “This bias is further amplified by the mainstream media, which gives greater voice to those in positions of relative power.”
John Peterson, a member of Covid Action Montreal (CAM) who was granted a pseudonym for safety reasons, said that masking is important within and beyond protests for protecting oneself and others from infectious diseases, such as COVID-19, respiratory syncytial virus and the flu.
Matilda Stevenson, another CAM member who was granted a pseudonym, added that many people, such as certain immunocompromised individuals, have always had to mask.
“[Masking is] a really important form of solidarity to keep [protests] not only safer health-wise for people who are continuing to mask, but also to keep them safe from violence by normalizing masking,” Stevenson said.
To them, “anti-mask” rhetoric is not only a lever that can be used to limit people from exercising their rights to free speech, but it is also hostile towards people with disabilities and increases the stigma around masking.
“It’s very common, increasingly so, for people to be harassed or threatened, or just treated badly because they’re masking,” Stevenson said.
Sharone Birapaka, co-coordinator of the Quebec Public Interest Research Group at Concordia, stressed that people are still impacted by COVID-19 and post-COVID condition, also known as “long COVID.”
“COVID-19 is still a very serious epidemic, and people become invisibilized in the way that it’s impacted them, because they might drop out of spaces—they might be in hospitals or at home dealing with long-term effects,” Birapaka said.
Stevenson said that long COVID is a problem that many are unaware of and that nobody wants to talk about. They added that their concern is heightened by Quebec’s announcement to shut down, on April 1, the wastewater testing that tracked COVID-19.
Birapaka said that Carr’s Jan. 30 statement felt like “very dangerous rhetoric to use” due to the importance of masks.
"Masks are what people are using to literally protect them from a life-threatening virus,” Birapaka said. “To use those words in such a negative way is a real disservice to Concordia students who are immunocompromised, and to all their families that they go home to, that need that protection.”
She added that disability justice should be the centre of everyone’s movements because everyone eventually becomes disabled in some way.
“As a community, we should be trying to keep each other safe,” she said, “and that includes everything from keeping us safe from police brutality and such, to keeping us safe from very dangerous viruses that are going around.”
This article originally appeared in Volume 45, Issue 11, published March 18, 2025.
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