McGill University seeks injunction against pro-Palestinian encampment
CBC
McGill University is seeking a court injunction against protesters at the pro-Palestinian encampment on its downtown campus, demanding that they dismantle the camp and refrain from any further occupation.
"I would like to emphasize that the order, if granted, would not stop our efforts to continue our discussions with members of the McGill community participating in the encampment," said Deep Saini, McGill's president and vice-chancellor, in a statement Friday afternoon.
"We are committed to doing so in good faith."
If approved, the order would authorize the Montreal police to immediately enforce a provisional injunction to dismantle the camp. The university wishes to see a peaceful and timely resolution of the occupation, Saini said. The protesters set up the encampment two weeks ago on the front lawn of McGill's downtown campus on Sherbrooke Street. The camp began with about 20 tents and soon grew to cover a large area of the lawn.
The protesters are demanding that the university cut ties with Israeli academic institutions and pull all investments from companies that operate in the country.
In a news conference earlier this week, the student protesters said they would be staying put until further notice.
"We are waiting for actual divestments and are announcing that the encampment will continue as long as we don't have concrete news of divestment," said encampment protester and Concordia University student Ari Nahman on Monday.
But Saini says in his statement that the university is concerned about the risks that the encampment poses to the safety, security and public health of members of the McGill community and for those participating in the encampment.
The university's application for an injunction states neither McGill nor the Montreal fire service has been able to go into the area to verify compliance with health and safety.
The injunction request will be submitted to Quebec Superior Court on Monday morning. It says the encampment began on April 27 without authorization or advanced notice, and requests the court intervene on an urgent basis.
One of the groups behind the protest, Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR), issued a statement Friday.
The group says McGill is taking this legal step despite ongoing efforts by protesters to engage in peaceful negotiations with the university.
"Contrary to the university's previous assurances of negotiating in good faith, this development follows the rejection of an earlier injunction by the court, which recognized the protest as peaceful," the statement says.
The statement is referring to an injunction request to remove the encampment and ban other campus protests filed in Quebec Superior Court by two McGill students. It was rejected on May 1 by Justice Chantale Masse, who said the plaintiffs failed to show it caused them irreparable harm.
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.