Whatever the Superior Court says, the pro-Palestine encampment “has no place” on the campus of McGill University, declared Wednesday the Minister of Public Security, François Bonnardel. He and his colleague Pascale Déry refused to describe the camp as “illegal”, as they had done the day before.
By ruling on the legality of the installations on Tuesday, Ministers Déry and Bonnardel “played[é] a bit of a judge instead of a judge,” lamented solidarity MP Alexandre Leduc. All opposition parties have called on government officials to exercise caution, given the judicialization of the case.
Around noon on Wednesday, Judge Chantal Masse of the Superior Court of Quebec rejected a request for an injunction filed by two McGill students to limit the space for the demonstration in support of the people of Gaza. In Parliament, Ministers Déry and Bonnardel replaced, in their speeches, the word “illegal” with expressions like “not authorized”.
“Camping, for me, has no place at McGill University. For me, student safety is extremely important and I will trust the judgment of the SPVM [Service de police de la Ville de Montréal] for the future,” declared Mr. Bonnardel. “This encampment has no place on the McGill University campus according to university rules,” he added.
In the opinion of Mme Déry, the Court’s decision “changes nothing in McGill’s position.” “According to the establishment’s internal policies, [le campement] is not authorised. So the SPVM was notified. They were asked to intervene, the university asked them to intervene, so they are monitoring the situation closely,” she said before continuing on her way.
Joly hopes to see appeasement
In Ottawa, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mélanie Joly, avoided commenting on the call to police forces on the campus of McGill University. She said she is confident that progress in ceasefire discussions will help calm tensions on college campuses.
“We are going to put pressure on the different parties to reach a ceasefire. I was in contact with Anthony Blinken yesterday. The more we are able to stop the violence, the more we will be able to see a reduction in tensions here,” she said in a press scrum before the Liberal caucus meeting Wednesday morning.
Activists on campus said they do not intend to leave until the university ends all of its partnerships with companies that have contracts with the Israeli military.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he was determined to secure a truce agreement between Israel and Hamas soon. An offer of a 40-day ceasefire, with the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for hostages kidnapped on October 7, was made to Hamas at the start of the week.
Hamas has not yet given its response to the latest proposal. Since the start of the war, only one week-long truce has been established at the end of November.
“We think it is important that we can talk to different members of society in Israel, different members also within the Palestinian territories, and that is what I will continue to do,” said Minister Joly, adding that there was “no love” between the Trudeau government and the Netanyahu government.
Liberal MP Anthony Housefather, of Jewish faith, described the camps at McGill as “inappropriate”. “These are not peaceful demonstrations,” he said.