A pro-Palestinian encampment on the campus of Vancouver Island University (VIU) in Nanaimo, B.C., believed to be the last of its kind in Canada, continues despite the issuing of a trespass notice and VIU’s subsequent move last month to take the protesters to court.

Injunction proceedings will be heard on Aug. 8 and 9 at the Supreme Court of British Columbia in Vancouver, with a ruling expected within the next two weeks, according to B’nai Brith Canada, one of the organizations granted intervenor status in the proceedings.

In a July 15 statement, VIU said it filed a lawsuit after demonstrators, who have been a fixture on campus since the start of May, ignored its trespass notice a few days earlier. At the time, the university cited a July 2 decision by the Superior Court of Ontario which granted the University of Toronto an injunction to remove a pro-Palestinian encampment from school property.

The Ontario court’s ruling led to the clearing shortly afterwards of numerous encampments on university campuses around the country, including the University of British Columbia and the University of Victoria. Protesters at UBC vacated the campus on July 8, while those at UVic dismantled their encampment on July 22 after a trespass notice was delivered.

The VIU encampment remains, however. The protesters, who call themselves the Palestine Solidarity Encampment (PSE), wrote on social media that the PSE will continue to be “steadfast in their commitment to the movement and exercising their right to protest.”

Allie Voisin, a spokesperson for the university, told The CJN that the filing for an injunction to have the encampment removed from the Nanaimo campus came with “a deep sense of disappointment, as it became clear that we could not reach a mutual agreement through negotiation with the PSE as we had hoped.”

“VIU has filed the injunction application with the B.C. Supreme Court, which includes multiple affidavits, and has provided all court-filed documents to the encampment as required by law,” she said.     

B’nai Brith Canada was granted intervenor status by a Supreme Court of British Columbia judge in VIU’s effort to remove the encampment from its property.  Other intervenors include the BC Civil Liberties Association, Independent Jewish Voices Canada, the Jewish Faculty Network and the National Council of Canadian Muslims.

According to B’nai Brith, pro-Hamas symbols have been found at the encampment site, as have posters calling for violence.  “The encampment at VIU is the last one remaining in B.C. and must be dispersed. Such hateful displays are an existential attack on campus communities,” said Aron Csaplaros, British Columbia regional manager for B’nai Brith Canada.

Richard Robertson, B’nai Brith Canada’s director of research and advocacy, is hopeful a ruling from the B.C. court will bring a swift resolution to this ongoing encampment. “We aim to help the court balance the quasi-constitutional human rights of those impacted by the encampment with the alleged constitutional rights of the encampment’s participants,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Jewish Federation of Victoria and Vancouver Island (JFVVI) said it continues to be disappointed with the university’s efforts towards ending the encampment and, in its view, VIU’s lack of support for Jewish staff and students.

JFVVI says letters to VIU President Deborah Saucier expressing concern for Jewish staff and students have gone unanswered and that Jewish VIU staff members have reached out to their local union and to the faculty association for support, which has been declined—resulting in staff members taking leave from their positions to protect their own health.

“While the university has applied for a court injunction to have the encampment removed, the campers have dug in and become entrenched on campus and continue to be supported by some faculty members, unions and student associations. Despite the university’s claim of diversity and inclusion for all; what it really means is diversity and inclusion, unless you are Jewish,” said Coral Grant, the executive director of JFVVI.

While VIU said it did not wish to comment further to the media ahead of court proceedings, it has posted a lengthy FAQ on its website. In it, the university states, the encampment is comprised of students, employees and others who are not part of the VIU community. The school also reiterated its call, originally put forward by its president, for a ceasefire and an end to the violence in the Middle East.

The school maintains that it has kept a measured response to the encampment and has made every effort to discuss the protesters requests—with the encampment organizers rejecting a settlement offer earlier this summer.

In a statement on July 3, VIU said the rejection of the offer and ensuing vandalism on campus demonstrated that “the encampment participants are unwilling to engage in good-faith dialogue with VIU administration.”

Disruptions on campus have included the occupation of a university building, the interruption of an exam, the damaging of flags at VIU’s International Centre and the vandalizing of the entry to VIU’s human resource office. In May, VIU temporarily shut down its on-campus Starbucks due to content expressed on signage and chalk graffiti which appeared there.

On July 11, VIU delivered a trespass notice to the protesters with the request that they vacate and leave the university property by 8 a.m. on July 15. VIU then filed a notice of civil claim with the BC Supreme Court, beginning court action against the encampment.

“At this time participation in the encampment is a violation of the trespass notice and participants may be named in the notices of civil claim by VIU that has been filed in the BC Supreme Court,” VIU emphasized.

One of the early demands by the protesters was for VIU to disclose all university investments. VIU said it had reached out to its financial management firms to review all of the school’s investments. The response from fund managers was that none of the holdings in VIU’s combined investments have a direct association nor ties to the conflict in the Middle East. VIU’s investments were then released to the community.

As a result of the protests, VIU said it has employed additional security because “an unauthorized encampment on site poses safety risks that wouldn’t be present if the encampment was not there.”