Content warning: mentions of overdoses, drugs, war, genocide
For 74 days, the student encampment protesting McGill’s ties to industries profiting from the ongoing genocide in Palestine was in full view from our offices at the School of Population and Global Health. At 5:00 a.m. on its 75th day, a private security firm hired by McGill forcibly removed protesting students and dismantled the encampment. In its place was a bulldozer guarded by police cars and officers. McGill justified these actions by claiming the encampment posed health and safety risks. As PhD students in epidemiology at the School of Population and Global Health, we strongly believe that this weaponization of public health narratives to justify actions against student encampments must stop. The real public health crisis is the one unfolding in Gaza.
For months, McGill failed to convince police and courts to intervene and dismantle the encampment. At the same time, official emails to the McGill community became increasingly false and alarmist. On May 10, McGill sent an email detailing “the risks that the encampment pose[d] to the safety, security and public health of members of the McGill community.” Based on media reports and first-hand accounts of healthcare professionals who were on-site daily, we disagree. These included physicians, including one of whom stated in an affidavit that there was no threat to public health in the camp. In response to McGill’s email, nearly 150 members of our School signed an open letter denouncing the mischaracterization of the encampment as a public health threat and highlighting the dire public health crisis in Gaza. Even after they acknowledged receipt of our letter, the McGill administration continued to flood our inboxes with the same false claims.
The day that McGill dismantled the encampment, President Deep Saini cited an alleged rat infestation as a motivation for its actions. While we have not seen evidence of such a problem, McGill has been ignoring rat infestations across campus for years. If the administration is concerned about rodent infestations, we suggest they pay a visit to its student residences or the basements of any of its libraries.
Saini also claimed that “there [were] fire risks, including a propane canister and flammable materials next to tents.” Ironically, McGill itself partly created this risk. The administration shut off electricity around the encampment, including to the streetlights on lower campus. This forced students to use propane for cooking, leading to potential fire hazards. In fact, the students proactively practice fire safety, keeping fire extinguishers on site.
In the same email, Saini complained that “Unhoused individuals now make up most of the few people who are sleeping in the camp overnight,” elaborating that “two overdoses occurred at the camp (…) Syringes are visible, and illegal narcotics have been sold there.” These claims were not supported by any evidence, and given Saini’s history of making questionable statements to criticize and undermine the encampment, we have doubts about the reliability of these assertions. Furthermore, the term “unhoused” rather than “homeless” is now used to reduce stigma by emphasizing people’s lack of housing rather than tying it to their identity. In an incredible show of hypocrisy, McGill used this destigmatizing term to justify dismantling the encampment due to its proximity to unhoused people. Authorities have often weaponized narratives related to public health to justify actions against unhoused people. Students at the encampment created a welcoming community, offering free resources (including food and water) to those in need. Blaming overdoses on the encampment and citing them as reasons for its dismantlement is also low. Overdoses are the tragic consequence of individual- and systemic-level factors, but they are not caused by student protests. The housing and drug crises have not disappeared since the encampment was dismantled—they are just no longer visible on campus.
While the administration spread false claims about public health threats, it failed to engage in any genuine discussion related to divestment from companies profiting from the ongoing genocide in Palestine. Students organized the encampment in solidarity with people in Gaza, who are facing indiscriminate bombing, organized starvation, disease outbreak, and the destruction of their healthcare system. These are actual public health crises. If McGill cared about public health, it would address this reality and stop funding industries profiting from it.
With contributions from Zeinab Cherri, Phoebe Friesen, Rina Lall, R.L., Y. S. Law, Kaya Van Roost.