The president of McGill University says his administration has spent the summer preparing for future incidents of antisemitism on the Montreal campus.
In a virtual town hall on Aug. 28, McGill president Deep Saini responded to questions from Montreal-area MP Anthony Housefather, the special advisor to the prime minister and cabinet on Canada’s Jewish community and antisemitism.
“It was a year of learning,” Saini told Housefather during the virtual meeting, reflecting on the anti-Israel and antisemitic hostility McGill faced since Oct. 7.
Over the past 10 months, the Montreal campus has been ambushed with waves of pro-Palestine protesters spewing hateful chants, destroying property and deploying tactics of intimidation and harassment towards Jewish students and faculty. An encampment which Saini said attracted violence and intimidation was dismantled in July, two-and-a-half months after it was established. Protesters had also blocked access to campus buildings during the year.
“It was a stark example of how a small group of determined people can create an extremely difficult situation for the majority that remains relatively quiet and ends up becoming a victim,” Saini said.
“It’s very hard to tell whether the antisemitism went up or it became more overt,” he added. “Did we actually see a rise in antisemitism? Or did we see people using this moment, using these circumstances, to give themselves a license to express antisemitism?”
Saini said that he “never experienced anything of this nature.”
Housefather said legislative adjustments would enable quicker action on behalf of the municipal police and university administrators.
“I certainly would love to see every province having legislation like Ontario did,” Housefather said, referring to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruling, which granted an injunction to the University of Toronto in July, allowing authorities to dismantle a pro-Palestinian encampment on school property.
“As a federal legislator, I take this very seriously,” Housefather added. “One of the things that I’m advocating for is Bubble (Zone) Legislation, which would create a new intimidation offense that would stop (offenders) from blocking access or exit from buildings, community buildings, schools, places of worship.”
Housefather also cited the importance of university administrations clearly communicating and enforcing campus rules, standards and policies, and asked McGill’s president what Jewish students and faculty could expect from the university’s administration if more breaches of school conduct occur in the coming months.
“We are determined that we’re going to use every single thing in our power to make sure that any infringement of all these boundaries is stopped as fast as humanly possible,” Saini said.
“It’s all subject to the laws of the land and we have learned to work with the police. We have multiple layers of defenses that we have enacted and we have demonstrated that they are workable and we will deploy them as needed.”
McGill’s president noted that a major difficulty is the inability to identify offenders.
“When somebody shows up on our campus with their face covered and they shout antisemitic slogans or do destructive things, and we are told we do not have the right to force them to show identity, we have our hands completely tied behind our backs,” he explained.
“We cannot apply the code to somebody if we don’t know who they are.”
Despite these complications, Saini said additional security measures and collaboration with the Montreal police will provide a safer space on campus in the coming months.
The university president mentioned that the rules of engagement have been made “abundantly clear” to faculty, particularly with what constitutes “abuse of podium.”
“Nobody would be allowed to abuse their position to make a (political or hateful) statement,” he said, also calling on Jewish students to be the ears on the ground and report any breaches of conduct.
“Nobody is going to be now excluded from or made to feel uncomfortable in class because they are a Zionist and support Israel.”
Look for more detailed daily coverage of post-secondary school and campus life this fall from Local Journalism Initiative reporter Mitchell Consky, who can be reached at [email protected].
