Quebec Superior Court halts adoption of pro-Palestinian McGill student union policy

Some McGill students say their right to express support for Palestinians is being suppressed, after a Quebec court temporarily put a stop to a student plan to adopt a pro-Palestinian policy at the university.

Quebec Superior Court issued a safeguard order Tuesday, preventing the student union from moving forward until the court can hear arguments from both sides on March 25, 2024.

A McGill student — who remains anonymous and is represented by a lawyer working for Jewish advocacy group B'nai Brith Canada — filed an injunction to stop the Students' Society of McGill University (SSMU) from adopting a "policy against genocide in Palestine" that was approved in a referendum this week.

The policy calls on McGill University to cut ties with people, corporations and institutions that are "complicit in genocide, settler-colonialism, apartheid, or ethnic cleansing against Palestinians."  

About 35 per cent of eligible students voted in the referendum Monday. Of the 8,401 students who voted, 78.7 per cent (5,974 students) were in favour of the policy, 1,620 voted against it and 807 abstained.

Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights McGill (SPHR), a student group, said in a statement to CBC News that the court order sets a "dangerous precedent for student democracy and undermines the supposedly democratic structure of Canadian institutions."

In a response for a request for comment, a member of the SSMU executive committee forwarded an email to CBC alleging that B'nai Brith and the Israeli Consulate have publicly identified some McGill students involved in the pro-Palestinian movement, putting them in danger.

The member asked not to be named because they were concerned about their personal safety.

B'nai Brith's Quebec regional director, Henry Topas, denies the accusation and says that it has never intimidated or harassed a member of the SSMU or another student group such as the SPHR.

"We are here only simply to protect the rights and ensure the safety of the Jewish students at McGill University who we believe are being constantly harassed and intimidated, physically and verbally," said Topas.

The organization has an app where people can self-report hate incidents which are then tabulated into its annual audit of antisemitic incidents. Topas says the information gathered is not shared with third parties. 

The SSMU executive member later clarified to CBC that the complaint about public identification applied to the consulate specifically.

An official with the Israeli Consulate in Montreal said she did not know what the SSMU member was referring to. 

The SSMU email said that exposing students is unfair since they "do not have the same resources for legal representation."

The move, states the email, has caused "great and unnecessary distress" to students and the union.

Human rights lawyer Pearl Eliadis says that in court cases, power imbalances are often disproportionate, but there is a mechanism in place to prevent parties from abusing their status.

She also says the court order is just a way of pressing pause.

"This is simply a safeguard order where the parties have both agreed and particularly the Students' Society of McGill University has agreed to hold off on the ratification of the vote until the court hears the injunction," she said. "There has been no decision on the merits of the case."

Still, SPHR cited the use of the court as a strategy for intimidating Palestinian organizers and anti-Zionist Jews and suppressing the Palestinian movement.

B'nai Brith Canada pleased

Topas says B'nai Brith Canada welcomed the court order and he described the student referendum question as "continuity of singling out the state of Israel."  

"Year after year, there is some form of referendum or question that they [SSMU] have people vote on to basically condemn Israel where they would not condemn other countries," said Topas. 

Topas added that while B'nai Brith acknowledges "collateral civilian suffering" in Gaza, Israel must defend itself following the murders of 1,200 Jews. 

"To turn it around and say there is genocide being committed in Gaza is nonsense," he said. 

Gaza's Hamas-run government has said at least 13,300 Palestinians have been killed, including at least 5,500 children, by unrelenting Israeli bombardment. 

In the 2022 winter semester, the SPHR submitted the "Palestine solidarity policy," which also called on the university to boycott and divest from "all corporations complicit in settler-colonial apartheid against Palestinians." It passed with 71.1 per cent approval from students but was not ratified. 

At the time, McGill administration said the "Palestine solidarity policy" was inconsistent with the students' society's constitution. Ultimately, the SSMU board of governors agreed, saying the policy did not follow the SSMU constitution and could not be adopted. 

Last year, McGill warned the SSMU off adopting "contentious" policies about Palestinians and threatened to cut funding and even ban it from using the school name.

A spokesperson for the university said in a statement Wednesday that McGill administration maintains that the latest policy, if adopted, will "sharpen divisions in our community at a time when many students are already distressed."