Content Warning: Descriptions of Israel-Palestine conflict, mentions of death, violence, and mourning
Hundreds protested against McGill University’s administration and Quebec Premier François Legault on Friday, Oct. 20, condemning Israel’s airstrikes in Gaza and the suppression of Palestinian voices on the university’s campus.
Friday’s Montreal protests came after two weeks of Israeli and Palestinian demonstrations globally following an escalation between Hamas and the Israeli government. According to Reuters, the Oct. 7 Hamas attack killed an estimated 1,200 Israelis, with more than 200 taken hostage. As of Oct. 23, Israel’s retaliation had since killed more than 5,000 Palestinians and displaced at least 1.4 million people in Gaza.
McGill students and staff gathered at 2 p.m. on campus for a protest organized by Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) McGill.
Speakers stood by the Y-intersection in front of a Palestinian flag and pro-Palestine banners with the backdrop of the McGill Arts building behind them. The around 200-person crowd, mostly students, waved hand-drawn signs. Passersby watched from a distance, while a half-dozen police officers remained around the perimeter.
“Free free,” a SPHR member said into a microphone, kicking off the protest. “Palestine,” the crowd responded.
“We are here today because it is our right and duty to support the people of Palestine,” the speaker continued. “What we are witnessing today is a genocide.”
Between chants, the speaker asserted that McGill had targeted SPHR McGill in its recent emails to staff and students. The speaker also denounced McGill’s partnership with Israel’s Tel Aviv University and McGill’s history of oppression. They turned and pointed to the flower bed in front of the Arts building that is the burial site of the university’s namesake and founder, James McGill, who enslaved at least two Indigenous children, and three people of African descent.
McGill University media relations, when asked for comment about SPHR McGill’s protest, referred The Tribune to an Oct. 20 communication from Angela Campbell, Associate Provost of Equity and Academic Policies, and Fabrice Labeau, Deputy Provost of Student Life and Learning. They called for the community to “show compassion for one another even when [they] feel scared, shocked, or outraged by current events.”
“While this is a very big ask, especially if these sentiments are rooted in personal experiences and circumstances, it is essential for our ability to function as a campus community,” Campbell and Labeau wrote.
McGill’s Provost and Vice-Principal (Academic) Christopher Manfredi denounced SPHR McGill’s social media posts in an Oct. 10 message to students and staff and ordered them to stop using the university name.
SPHR McGill responded to Manfredi’s message in a public statement on Oct. 19 condemning the McGill administration.
“In the face of active genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, rather than offering its Palestinian students and allies support, McGill is doubling down on its complicity with the Zionist state of Israel. Intimidated by the presence of our activism, the McGill administration is attempting to erase SPHR McGill’s right to represent the students of our university, pressuring SSMU to revoke our name and penalize us,” the group wrote.
The group commented on the protest in a statement to The Tribune on Oct. 23, affirming their previous public statements against the university and citing a letter of support signed by 28 McGill staff. They also called students to join them on Oct. 25 to walk out of their classes at 1:30 p.m. in solidarity with Palestine.
After the first speaker, the crowd heard from other SPHR McGill members, representatives from the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), the Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill (AGSEM), and a McGill professor. The speakers voiced their support for SPHR McGill and rallied for Palestinians. The Delegates’ Council of AGSEM voted on Oct. 18 to approve two separate motions in solidarity with Palestine and SPHR McGill.
Prior to the student protest on the McGill campus, the PYM led a protest at 1 p.m. which started in front of the U.S. Consulate General at the corner of Rue Stanley and Rue St. Catherine. Chants of “Free free, Palestine” echoed as around 100 people gathered to protest the Canadian and American governments’ support of Israel.
The crowd grew to around 300 people by 2 p.m. and made its way toward Premier François Legault’s office on Rue Sherbrooke to join members of Independent Jewish Voices (IJV)—a grassroots Jewish organization that advocates for peace in Israel-Palestine—who were blocking the entrance to the building. A heavy police presence, with officers on foot, bikes, horses, and in cars surrounded the area while Rue Sherbrooke was blocked off from Rue University to Rue Stanley.
“In partnership with the Palestinian Youth Movement [….] We’re calling on Legault to pressure the Canadian government to send immediate humanitarian aid to Gaza to acknowledge and respond to rising Islamophobic violence in Quebec and Canada,” a member of IJV told The Tribune while blocking the entrance to Legault’s office.
“We’re calling Legault to recognize and respond to that rising Islamophobic violence here in Quebec and call on the Canadian federal state to do the same in Canada. And we are calling on Legault to push the Canadian government to acknowledge its complicity in the unfolding genocide in Palestine,” they continued.
According to a CBC article on Oct. 23, the Canadian government has previously said that Israel’s actions against Palestinians do not constitute genocide.
As the protest gathered around Legault’s office, PYM representative Sarah Shamy, BA ‘21, also called for justice for people in Gaza, and led protesters to chant “End the siege on Gaza now!” and “End the bombing now!”
By 3 p.m., the SPHR McGill protest wrapped up and the protesters marched to join the PYM and IJV protest outside Legault’s office. The crowd moved through the Roddick Gates before being met with cheers as they stood opposite the PYM and IJV protest before merging into one.
“I don’t want another genocide committed in the name of Jewish people. Certainly not in my name,” an IJV member and McGill PhD student told The Tribune. “I find McGill’s response to these events to be incredibly one-sided and narrow-minded. They’re actively erasing the voices of Palestinian students on campus and of students who support them.”
The protest started to thin out around 4 p.m. Since the crowd was small enough to fit on the sidewalk in front of Legault’s office, Rue Sherbrooke was slowly reopened to traffic by police. The PYM organizers called the remaining protesters to stage a sit-in in front of Legault’s office. They stayed seated for several hours as parked police cars surrounded them. Supporters taped signs to the front door of Legault’s office before the protest ended peacefully at 7 p.m.
“It makes me feel very energized and hopeful because, you know, day after day, when we organize a protest, even when it’s under extreme[ly] short notice, hundreds and thousands of people show up,” said Shamy, reflecting on the protest. “So it definitely makes me feel hopeful that even though our states are turning a blind eye, the people are refusing to.”
The office of Premier Legault and The Students’ Society of McGill University did not respond to The Tribune’s request for comment before the time of publication.
Resources:
For faculty and staff:
- The Employee & Family Assistance Program is available to McGill employees as a confidential support service.
For students:
- The Student Wellness Hub offers counselling services for students located in Montreal.
- Keep.MeSafe is a service accessible 24/7 whenever you need to speak (or text) with a mental health professional for support. You can access Keep.MeSafe from anywhere in the world.
This piece was updated at 11 p.m. on Nov. 13 to fix a capitalization error and to revise the estimated Israeli death toll. On Nov. 10, Israel lowered its estimated death toll following the Oct. 7 attack from 1,400 people to 1,200.
