Norman Cornett is a religious studies course lecturer in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, dismissed without explanation from his post at McGill University in the spring of 2007, possibly for his unorthodox teaching methods.[1]
Former National Film Board of Canada (NFB) producer Robert Verrall, an invited guest participant in some of Cornett's classes, created a petition demanding that McGill explain its actions, which was signed by 13 Canadian filmmakers and published in the Montreal Gazette on June 15, 2007. Lawyers and academics including Julius Grey and Yakov M. Rabkin published an opinion piece in Le Devoir on July 11, also demanding an explanation from McGill.[2][3] University provost Anthony Masi replied that there had been no irregularities in the decision to let Cornett go.[4]
Peter Leuprecht, former Dean of the McGill University Faculty of Law and one of the signatories of the Le Devoir piece, said that “It is not good that there are all kinds of suspicions circulating. It is not good for the university or the public at large.” [3]
Cornett and his dismissal are the subject of a 2009 NFB documentary Professor Norman Cornett: "Since when do we divorce the right answer from an honest answer? written and directed by Alanis Obomsawin, which had its world premiere at the Hot Docs film festival.[5][6]