Queen’s, union respond to ‘offensive’ Instagram video shot in Kingston’s University District

Queen’s University Campus. Photo by Robin Dawes.

A video shot in the University District containing transphobic, antisemitic, and other highly offensive content has drawn condemnation from Queen’s University and a local union.

The video, which has since been removed from Instagram and other social media platforms it circulated on, included “a street interview at an unsanctioned gathering in the off-campus University District in late October,” according to a statement from the university issued on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025.

The video began circulating over the weekend ending on Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025.

“Queen’s University condemns a deeply disturbing transphobic, antisemitic and sexually violent video that recently circulated on social media,” the university’s statement began, noting that the video has been “erroneously attributed to Queen’s students.”

The university claimed that the video was not created by students currently enrolled there. According to Queen’s, the university “took immediate action to have this harmful content removed and has been working to identify the participants.” The university said it “appears” that the people who “lead and speak” in the Instagram video “are not affiliated with Queen’s.” The statement went on to say that one of the individuals in the video “appears to have created similar social media content at street gatherings near other postsecondary institutions in Ontario.”

“The safety of transgender community members and indeed all campus community members is paramount for Queen’s. The harm caused by this video post is especially acute, because it surfaced during Transgender Awareness Week – a time dedicated to strengthening understanding, visibility, and support for the transgender community and the challenges its members face during this time of increasing anti-transgender violence,” said the statement, which was issued on Transgender Day of Remembrance.

“The university is firmly committed to fostering a safe, welcoming and inclusive community for transgender students and employees and all members of the Queen’s community. We have no tolerance for hateful or hurtful conduct.”

Kingstonist has not independently verified the information from Queen’s about the video or those in it.

A day prior to the university addressing the video, the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) Local 901 – which represents “thousands of teaching assistants, research assistants, and postdoctoral fellows” at Queen’s University – issued their own statement, saying the union local is “deeply disturbed and disgusted by the recent surfacing of a video in which Queen’s University students use transphobic slurs and engage in Nazi apologia,” and that they “condemn this behaviour unequivocally.”

However, the union saw the video as part of a broader and ongoing issue, according to their statement.

“More importantly, we situate this incident within a long-standing and well-documented pattern of hateful, exclusionary, and harmful conduct that continues to emerge on this campus without meaningful institutional accountability,” PSAC Local 901 stated.

The union’s statement goes on to cite a number of incidents involving racism on campus over the past five years, though not all of those incidents have been previously covered or verified by Kingstonist, and will therefore not be listed here. Nonetheless, anonymous, racist content was airdropped to those in attendance at a Queen’s debate in February 2023, and was named in a class action lawsuit addressing antisemitism incidents on campus in November the same year – incidents of antisemitism on Queen’s campus have been documented by Kingstonist in 2023, 2021, and 2019, among others.

PSAC 901 said such incidents “viewed alongside the recently resurfaced video… highlight a persistent cultural problem at Queen’s, where bigotry continues to emerge and institutional responses remain inconsistent or insufficient.”

“For PSAC 901 members; graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who teach, research, and support the academic mission of this institution, these incidents generate profound concerns about safety, dignity, and belonging in their workplaces and classrooms,” the union stated.

“We demand that the university, as the employer, meet with us without delay to discuss concrete steps to ensure a safe, respectful, and inclusive workplace for all PSAC 901 members. Our members’ safety, dignity, and ability to carry out their work free from hate and harassment cannot be negotiable nor is our demand for accountability.”

It is unclear why PSAC 901 referred to the recent circulation of the offensive video as a “resurfacing.” Kingstonist cannot say whether the video in question was created recently or not, as the video has been removed from social media platforms.

For their part, Queen’s pointed to a number of campus resources available to students, such as  Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Services, the Principal’s Action Group for Gender and Sexual Diversity and the University Council on Anti-Racism and Equity.

“The university has a wide range of equity, diversity, and anti-racism resources available to the campus community, including support and reporting mechanisms, programming and community-building spaces and networks,” Queen’s said.