McGill asks police for help as pro-Palestinian protesters dig in on 4th day of encampment
CBC
Despite rain, mud and the possibility of an injunction at the pro-Palestinian encampment on McGill University's downtown campus Tuesday afternoon, protesters say their spirits remain high.
They say they're staying put until the university divests from companies with business interests in Israel.
Some of those camping out overnight spread soil to absorb rain, dug trenches and scooped water with plastic pitchers. Others handed out yellow ponchos and umbrellas to protesters supporting them outside the gates. Dozens of people arrived to set up tarps and bring supplies including rain boots and food to the encampment.
Between chants like "rain or shine, we will stand up for Palestine," protesters blasted Arabic music and danced in the pouring rain.
On the fourth day of the encampment, police motorcycles stood nearby and an injunction request from two students asking a judge to prevent groups from protesting near McGill buildings wound its way through Quebec Superior Court.
Carl Bystram, who works at QPIRG-McGill and is taking part in the protest, said the university should make more efforts to listen to the students.
"It's quite disgraceful of McGill to be calling the police on this encampment," they said. "They should be more open to negotiations with students."
Earlier Tuesday, university president Deep Saini said in a statement sent to students and staff that McGill was resorting to calling for police assistance because officials "failed to reach a resolution" with protesters.
Fabrice Labeau, McGill's vice-provost of student life and learning, spoke to CBC's As It Happens host Nil Köksal Tuesday evening, saying administrators had made several attempts to reach out to the groups protesting.
"The McGill participants in the encampment would refuse to put forward proposals through their legal counsel to us in terms of when they would end the encampment," Labeau said.
"We've seen an increase in the number of tents. We've seen the arrival of large numbers of people from outside the McGill community. And we've also heard the reports of antisemitic rhetoric being used, and this is under investigation on our end."
On Sunday, the university said it was investigating a video published on social media that included what it said were antisemitic remarks.
Tuesday, McGill shared the video with CBC News. The video lists McGill University as its location and includes protesters chanting "all the Zionists are racist, all the Zionists are the terrorists," as well as "go back to Europe."
The video provided to CBC News contains the text "20 Jihadists against one Jewish Israeli student being told to go back to Europe."
Aggressive patients and lack of security are making nurses feel unsafe in a rural Western Manitoba emergency union, says the Manitoba Nurses Union.
Saskatoon resident Delynne Bortis knew her commute to work Tuesday morning would be particularly difficult.
WARNING: This story contains details of abuse and intimate partner violence:
The amount of money it takes for people to earn a living wage has increased across the province, according to a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
The new owner of Ontario steelmaker Stelco says his company "will not disappoint the people of Hamilton and Nanticoke," where the business's major facilities are based.
A Winnipegger is warning others about an intricate scam she says she almost fell for.
Fort William First Nation is opposing a planned redevelopment of the Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) 117 year old Kakabeka Falls Generating Station, which is located in their traditional territory.
A building that sits at the corner of Sussex Street and Brunswick Avenue has had many lives over the last century — being a church, a school and offices. Now it's set to become housing, at a time when the city sorely needs it.
A Waterloo, Ont., elementary school principal will be sentenced in the new year after pleading guilty to child sexual exploitation charges following a joint investigation that involved the London, Toronto and Waterloo police services.
Students at UPEI have let their student union know what they want from the province this fiscal year, and those priorities are reflected in a 2024-2025 advocacy document brought to the legislature on Wednesday.
Larger communities in the N.W.T. will soon see a boost in their territorial funding to maintain infrastructure and deliver services — like water and waste management — but the increase still falls short of what communities need.