Unfolding the McGill Encampment

On April 27, McGill and Concordia students set up an encampment on McGill’s lower field to demand that their universities divest from companies funding Israeli apartheid and Israel’s current genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. In doing so, they joined a larger movement of encampments erected across campuses in North America and globally, showing solidarity with Gaza by demanding that their universities stop being complicit in genocide. 

The demands of the encampment were as follows:

• Disclose: The McGill Board of Governors and the Concordia Investments Committee must fully disclose all investments in companies complicit in the genocide of the Palestinian people.
• Divest: McGill and Concordia must fully divest from all complicit companies and cut academic ties with Israeli institutions.
• Defend: The universities shall not pursue disciplinary charges against students taking action in support of Palestine; and will drop any pending charges against students.
• Declare: The universities must issue a statement condemning the genocide against the Palestinian people and pressure the Canadian government to cease all military contracts with Israel.

Beyond McGill, student activists across the world have taken initiative to hold their universities accountable and to pressure administrations to not only disclose their investments but also divest from funding Israeli apartheid. The Daily has compiled a list of major developments this summer concerning the student encampment in solidarity with Palestine at McGill. 

It is crucial to follow events happening on the ground in Gaza, as these directly inform why students are mobilizing in North America. We recommend following Palestinian journalists reporting on the ground, like +972 Magazine, as well as broadcast channels such as Let’s Talk Palestine for more comprehensive updates.

An encampment is organized by McGill and Concordia students on McGill’s lower field, becoming one of the first Canadian universities to do so. The students plan to remain indefinitely at the encampment until McGill agrees to divest. 

Despite McGill’s administration requests to remove the tents, the students refuse. Fabrice Labeau sends out an email stating that the protest is currently peaceful.  

After two days, the encampment triples in size as members in the community rally around the student protestors. McGill security tells students that they “have no right to be here,” threatening to use other options to dismantle the encampment. 

Labeau sends an email out stating that the administration “saw video evidence of some people using unequivocally antisemitic language and intimidating behaviour.”  

President Deep Saini announces that the encampment has become unsafe with “hateful rhetoric” being “flagrantly used.” McGill announces that they are trying to de-escalate the protests and demonstrations, but the students remain adamant in their occupation on campus. 

Two McGill students attempt to file an injunction request against the encampment, asking  to ban protests within 100 meters of McGill buildings for a 10-day period. They claim that words circulating around and within the encampment were creating a hostile and unsafe environment. 

Judge Chantal Masse rejects the injunction made by the McGill students, stating insufficient evidence of urgency or danger to students’ access to McGill buildings.

In an email, Saini upholds that dismantling the encampment is “non-negotiable,” offering to hold a forum with students to discuss their demands in exchange for leaving the encampment. 

At this time, Montreal Police has received McGill’s request for assistance with the encampment, but have yet to make a decision. 

A counter-protest in support of Israel is organized on Sherbrooke, leading to heavy police presence on campus and the closure of the Roddick Gates entrance. The counter-protest lasts for a few hours, and there are no major escalations between the two groups.

Quebec Premier François Legault comes out with a statement claiming that the encampment is illegal, and that the police must move in and dismantle it. 

SPHR, IJV, Profs4Palestine, and the Mohawk Mothers hold a press conference in the encampment. Students explain that they have presented their demands to the university and are waiting on a concrete plan for divestment. Until such an agreement is met, they will continue to maintain the encampment. 

At this press conference, students reveal that McGill has been instructing their security to restrict certain basic necessities from entering the camp, such as porta-potties and COVID-19 masks. 

McGill University requests an injunction to remove the encampment by use of the SPVM, and they announce that convocation ceremonies will be moved from the lower field. In their request they refer to the encampment as a “fortress” and a “village,” with “occupants” posing safety and health risks. 

Students hold another press conference affirming that they will not move until their demands are met. 

After filing for an injunction, McGill goes to court against the encampment. 

Court documents reveal that McGill previously asked the SPVM to intervene, but the SPVM refused and asked the university to resolve the situation peacefully.

Nakba Day marks the 76th year of the Nakba.

Quebec Superior Court Justice Marc St-Pierre denies McGill’s injunction request, describing it as “ill-founded” and suggesting that the school modify it to refile. 

Montreal activists glue childrens’ shoes and red paint to the steps of the Arts Building to honour the Palestinian children killed by Israel, whose deaths they view McGill as complicit in.

McGill files its second injunction against the encampment, arguing under the basis of legal rights and claiming the campus as private property. Talks between administration and students within the encampment are revealed to have halted after McGill filed for its first injunction. 

Saini publishes an op-ed in the Montreal Gazette arguing that the McGill encampment “isn’t a peaceful protest; it’s an unlawful occupation.” He states that the university and the protestors have tried to reach a mutual understanding, but the “occupants continue to eschew meaningful conversation.” 

To celebrate its 30th day, members of the encampment organize a day of family-friendly workshops, art, and teach-ins for the community. Activities include a “Mapping Palestine” workshop for kids; a talk from Michelle Hartman and Malek Abisaab about their book What the War Left Behind: Women’s Stories of Resistance and Struggle in Lebanon; a photo exhibition from the early days of the encampment; and a teach-in on the history of Palestinian student activism at McGill by SPHR.

Students organize a banner drop on the construction site of the Sylvan Adams Sports Science Institute, an institute funded by billionaire and self-appointed “ambassador for Israel” Sylvan Adams. According to SPHR McGill, two people nearby were arrested.

Saini sends out an email update condemning several actions of the encampment, such as protesting outside of Angela Campbell’s house and setting a table of rotten food for the McGill Office of Investments. He admits that while the university has asked the SPVM to “take every action possible under the law” to dismantle the encampment, the SPVM have refused. He emphasizes that while McGill “offered to examine divestment from companies whose revenues largely come from weapons”, it will continue to take a so-called “neutral institutional stance”.

Naksa Day marks 57 years since the Naksa or the “setback,” when Israel seized the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza, which displaced 300,000 Palestinians.

The McGill Hunger Strike officially ends, with strikers saying that they “are no longer willing to risk our lives and bodies for the genocidal killing machine known as McGill.”

Student protestors barricade themselves inside of the James Administration building as a result of McGill’s continued investments in genocide and in response to calls to escalate for Rafah. 

Police arrive on the scene, using tear gas and pepper spray on the protesters while also charging at them with shields pushing them away from the building and toward the Roddick Gates. The protesters are escorted from the building, and police say arrests will be made. 

The Montreal Police arrest 15 people involved in the James Administration building occupation; 13 on the account of entering and breaking, and two for interfering with police officers. 

McGill makes an amnesty offer to the protestors in the encampment. Their offer proposes to review and explore new options for divestment from weapons manufacturers. The university will also grant disciplinary amnesty to participants, student or employee, in the encampment if they leave by June 16. This pardon will not extend to acts committed during the James Administration building occupation and barricade. 

McGill says they will disclose direct equity and fixed income investments below $500,000 and create a mandate to support Palestinian scholarship at McGill. 

Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) creates a post advertising a “youth summer program.” McGill denounces the post as the image contains individuals holding assault rifles. The program seeks to inform on resistance movements against Israel’s genocide of Palestinians.  

McGill ends its negotiations with encampment protesters, saying that the protesters have rejected their offers of amnesty. Saini says the university will pursue disciplinary action. 

In Saini’s statement he claims the encampment has “maintained that their demands are non-negotiable while accusing the university of unwillingness to engage in fair discussions.” The proposed offer on June 11 was rejected with protesters saying they won’t leave the encampment until the university cuts all investments connected to Israel. 

McGill closes its campus, using private security guards to dismantle the encampment during the night. Protestors are escorted off the lower-field while workers hired by the university clear away the tents, signs, and tarps. Saini states that “this camp was not a peaceful protest,” but a “a heavily fortified focal point for intimidation and violence.” The McGill encampment was the last encampment remaining in Quebec, as those erected at Université du Quebec à Montréal (UQAM), Université de Sherbrooke, Université Laval, and in Square Victoria had all been taken down.