On Tuesday, July 16th, NDP Critic for Post-Secondary Education Leah Gazan issued the following statement:
"For over eight months, protestors across Canada and throughout the world have repeatedly shown up in large numbers to protest the grave injustices committed by Israel in Gaza. Reports by neutral observers of violence against Palestinian civilians have been truly shocking, as the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has suggested Israel’s military operations plausibly constitute a genocide. Most recently, The Lancet estimated the death toll in Gaza to be possibly more than 186,000, while experts say famine is now spreading throughout the region due to aid restrictions.
It’s unsurprising that students, who often have a unique opportunity to critically study social justice issues, have played a major part in these protests. Beginning this spring, students at several universities enacted peaceful encampments to demand their schools condemn the violence and divest from firms supporting Israel’s military operations. These encampments have been reminiscent of the anti-war protests of the past, during which students have always been on the right side of history.
That’s why it is deeply troubling that many campus leaders and elected officials have demonized student protestors and called for an end to encampments. The result has been repression and police violence: in one extreme example, at the University of Calgary, police used riot gear, pepper spray and flashbangs against students after just one day of protests. More recently, a judge granted an injunction to end the University of Toronto encampment, despite his claim that protests were neither violent nor anti-Semitic.
While Pierre Poilievre has no problem encouraging protests by far-right groups like Diagalon, he’s labelled peaceful student encampments ‘hate camps’ and demanded the government shut them down. Conservative deputy leader Melissa Lantsman has also called on university presidents to suspend or expel student protestors without due process. Once again, Conservatives show they support freedom for some and not others.
Meanwhile, Liberal MP Anthony Housefather has repeatedly opposed students’ freedom to protest what is plausibly a genocide according to the ICJ, encouraging police to take action against students at the University of McGill. Trudeau not only refrained from condemning this opposition to students’ free speech, but recently promoted MP Housefather to a special adviser position. Clearly, Liberals aren’t serious about protecting Charter rights on campuses.
Despite widespread repression of students’ voices, the recent agreement reached at the University of Windsor is a positive sign for how student activism on campus should be handled. Conflicts should be resolved through peaceful negotiations, not violence. I encourage campus leaders across Canada to adopt this approach to ongoing and future protests, and I urge elected officials to respect agreements reached between students and administrators."