(Ottawa) Five federal Liberal MPs are asking the administrations of 25 Canadian universities to clearly clarify whether calling for “genocide against the Jewish people” or “the elimination of the State of Israel” violates the code of conduct of their establishment.
The letter, shared online by Montreal MP Anthony Housefather, comes against a backdrop of rising anti-Semitism since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, including on university campuses.
Former Justice Minister David Lametti, Montreal MP Anna Gainey, Winnipeg MP Ben Carr and former Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino also signed the letter. MPs Housefather and Carr are Jewish.
The letter says the five MPs have heard from students in their constituencies who say they have been harassed by their university peers or “subjected to hostile environments in some classrooms”.
American university administrations have faced similar questions during recent congressional hearings regarding anti-Semitism on campus.
Former University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill resigned amid controversy after telling elected officials that such a call for genocide of the Jewish people would “depend on the context.” She clarified the next day that such a call would be considered harassment or intimidation.
“We do not believe that any context is necessary to confirm that calling for the eradication of an identifiable group constitutes harassment, intimidation and incitement to hatred, and merits the highest disciplinary action. stricter standards available to a university,” we can read in the letter from the federal Liberal MPs.
Commons Committee
MEPs ask Canadian rectors to respond to their question in writing by January 20 and to clarify the measures taken since the start of the war in the Middle East on October 7 to protect Jewish students facing “hostile environments”. MPs plan to then submit these responses to a Commons committee.
“While a college campus should be a safe sanctuary, we instead hear from Jewish students who are afraid to go to campus or to certain classes,” the letter reads. This is totally unacceptable. »
Canadian universities have struggled to manage tensions between supporters of the two camps on their campuses since the start of the war in the Middle East.
In Montreal, Concordia University was the scene of violence between pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian activists on the downtown campus on November 8. A student was arrested and three people were injured – two security guards and a student.
McGill University has asked a group called “Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights McGill” to remove the reference to the Montreal university from its name. This association had described Hamas’ surprise attacks against Israel on October 7 as “heroic” on social networks.
Four pro-Palestinian student groups, including this one, then responded by saying they were not celebrating violence, but rather were “seeing the prospect of liberation” of Palestine.
The MPs do not cite a specific university or incident in their letter, but they say that many students have encountered demonstrators on campus “who are demanding the elimination of the only majority Jewish state in the world.”
“Since October 7, we have seen shootings at Jewish schools, bombings of Jewish establishments, threats of boycotts against Jewish-owned businesses, and reports across the country that Jewish students not feeling safe on their campus,” the letter read.
“This has been accompanied by a lack of action by university leaders to protect Jewish students. »