An open letter from Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) President, Laura Walton to University of Toronto President Meric Gertler outlines labour’s solidarity with the ongoing student encampments unfolding across the province. 

The May 25th letter notes Walton’s disappointment with the ultimatum outlined in a trespass notice given to students at the encampment on Friday afternoon. The order gave protesters until 8:00 Monday morning to vacate and dismantle the encampment. However, at the time of publication, the encampment is still intact as discussions continue between organizers and university administration.

Since the notice of trespass was issued, numerous labour unions, student, and faculty groups have lent their support for the ongoing protests and encampments being carried out at universities across the country.   

"As the voice of Ontario’s labour movement, the OFL unequivocally supports the right of students to engage in peaceful protest on campus, as they call for a ceasefire and divestment from companies that are complicit in war and occupation,” Walton wrote. 

On Monday morning (May 27th) Gertler announced that the university would be seeking a court injunction asking to remove the encampment in order “to return King’s College Circle to the University community.” 

The space on the University of Toronto Campus has been renamed the People’s Circle for Palestine by organizers. 

“This morning, lawyers representing the University of Toronto served documents seeking an injunction order from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and asked the court for an expedited case conference for scheduling,” the brief statement says.

Court dates for the pending injunction being sought by the university to clear the encampment are set for June 19th and 20th. 

Last Friday’s trespass order also contained threats of termination to university faculty and staff who remain at the encampment past the Monday morning deadline. 

“Faculty members, librarians and staff may be subject to disciplinary measures up to and including termination of employment, in accordance with the relevant university policies,” the order states. 

In response to this, the University of Toronto Faculty Association (UFTA) responded by calling the order from Gertler “unprecedented” and noted that UFTA members first became aware of the notice through reports in the media.

Further, UFTA wrote that to their recollection “there has never been a public threat of mass termination of our members for the peaceful and lawful exercise of their freedom of expression and academic freedom.”

On Monday morning, Walton and the OFL were joined by representatives of national unions including the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and the United Steelworkers (USW) in a solidarity rally for students and faculty who are defying the university’s trespass order.

“If the university makes a move against the students, they’ll have to go through the workers first,” Walton said on Monday. 

CUPE’s presence at the University of Toronto rally earlier this week was backed up with a statement which outlined the union’s position of support for the student organizers. 

“CUPE fully supports students and CUPE members who are participating in Gaza solidarity encampments on Canadian campuses and exercising their rights to assembly and peaceful protest,” the union wrote in a media release on May 27th. 

“CUPE stands with student organizers and calls on university administrators to reject the criminalization of peaceful campus protests, which will only lead to police violence,” the statement continues. “Instead, administrators should be negotiating in good faith.”

This statement echoes Walton’s letter which calls on Gertler and the university administration to continue working in good faith and “without the threats of police intervention.” 

On Friday (May 31st) Chief of the Toronto Police Service, Rob Johnson, provided an update to the service’s board stating that Toronto Police would not take action to clear the encampment on the University of Toronto campus without a court order.

According to a Canadian Press report, Johnson cited the fact that in the current circumstances, the Toronto Police lack the necessary authority to legally clear the ongoing encampment.

A joint statement from May 29th by USW and OPSEU outlined the two unions’ intention to seek intervenor status in the injunction being sought by the university of Toronto. Intervenors in cases are parties who are not initially involved in bringing forward a legal action but who may be affected by the outcome.

The unions outline their concerns that the ruling on this injunction “has the potential to threaten the Charter protected right to the freedom of association” which is outlined in section two of the charter. 

“To threaten to forcibly remove a peaceful encampment which is simply an expression of political opinion, where students and workers and other members of the University community are asserting their Charter rights—is an abdication of the University’s very reason for existence,” OPSEU president JP Hornick states in the release.

Student Unions Lend Support: 

As national labour unions affirm their support for the students at the University of Toronto and across the country, student unions also lent their support in the wake of the administration’s notice of trespass on May 24th. 

The University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) stated that it is “firmly in support of the student encampment on our campus, our students’ right to engage in peaceful protest, and the demands set forth by the parties involved” which involved divesting from “investments that sustain Israeli apartheid” and to “terminate partnerships with Israeli academic institutions operating in illegal settlements.”

Earlier this month, the Trent Central Student Association also released a statement which outlined the association’s support for the May 15th Nakba Day sit-in and afternoon rally which drew support from students, faculty, and the community.

These actions have unfolded in the week prior to a meeting between representatives for Students for Palestine Trent and Trent University administration which had been tentatively scheduled for May 31st. 

Late on May 30th, organizers for Students for Palestine Trent told Arthur that the meeting would take place at 10:00 on Friday morning and that members of faculty would also be in attendance. However, despite the demands that President Leo Groarke would attend, Trent University advised Students 4 Palestine prior to the meeting that Vice President of External Relations, Julie Davis and Associate Vice President, Lawrence Lam would be the only representatives of administration attending.

In a document obtained by Arthur, Trent wrote that “the leaders attending were selected for their specific knowledge and expertise on issues raised by your group” and that both Davis and Lam would report back to President Groarke and “other members of the senior administration team as necessary.”

In an Instagram post from June 1st, Student for Palestine Trent wrote that “Trent representatives re-affirmed our concerns that the university shows no interest in meeting our demands of condemnation, disclosure and divestment.”

“None of the Executives we requested attended the meeting. No demands were met or future meetings arranged,” the post’s caption states. 

Trent’s investments lay primarily in pooled funds which the university ultimately has no control over. Additionally, while the University Pension Plan (UPP), which Trent signed onto in 2022, outlines a list of excluded investments including weapons, tobacco and “entities causing or contributing to adverse social or environmental impacts” these apply only to direct investments which are defined as those investments “managed by UPP rather than investments made by external investment managers that are engaged by UPP for investment services.”    

According to the Students for Palestine Trent post’s graphics, Trent representatives offered “excuses” for why they would not act on these specific demands which reportedly includes their understanding that the university does not feel it necessary to make a statement on the conflict itself.

No concrete record of the meeting exists, however, Students For Palestine Trent has told Arthur that the statements contained in their June 1st post are “paraphrased” notes taken during the meeting by one of their representatives.

Students For Palestine went on to write that they are “disappointed” by what they see as a failure on the part of the university to condemn the ongoing conflict which they refer to both as a genocide and a scholasticide and that Trent is “choosing to remain complicit in its silence.”