UPDATED June 7, 2024
Context
Since October 7, 2023, millions of people have been gathering across the world to protest the genocide in Gaza. And yet the genocide roars on, and Canada is still one of the key countries offering financial support to Israel.
On April 17, 2024 students from Columbia University started an on campus encampment in an effort to convince their administration to divest from the genocide. Columbia University has invested a total of 13.6 billion dollars to Israel and companies linked to Israel (such as Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft).
Columbia’s administration called the NYPD on their students and faculty. Hundreds of NYPD officers violently took down the encampment on April 30, 2024. It was a shocking display of force with officers violently tackling students who were peacefully protesting on their own campus. Despite mass arrests and police brutality, some students are still occupying the encampment area. The Columbia administration is repeatedly threatening students with expulsion.
There have been countless other peaceful encampments across the US including but not limited to: New York University, The New School, Barnard College, Emerson College, Tufts University, University of Michigan, Yale University, Princeton University, Washington University, Vanderbilt University, UNC Chapel Hill, and George Washington University. The encampment at Brown University resulted in the school committing to a divestment vote! Evergreen State College has committee to divestment to avoid an encampment all together.
Students across the United States are committed to pressuring their schools into divesting from the genocide. We love to see it.
Canadian universities join the fight!
On Saturday April 27, 2024, I was delighted to find students from McGill University setting up a joint encampment with Concordia University on McGill’s Lower Field. In the past 5 days, student encampments have been forming all across Canada.
Social media is super fleeting, so I’ve created a structured archive with photos from every Canadian university encampment to really highlight the scope and intensity of this anti genocide student movement in Canada.
* Click to jump to each school’s section
UPDATED: York University
UPDATED: University of Toronto
SUCCESS/DIVESTED: McMaster University
SUCCESS/ DIVESTED: Ontario Tech University
University of Waterloo
Dalhousie University
University of Winnipeg
University of Windsor
University of Manitoba
University of Sherbrooke
University of Quebec (in Montreal)
University of Alberta
University of Calgary
McMaster University
McGill University
University of Ottawa
Western University
University of British Columbia
University of Victoria
Vancouver Island University
Toronto Metropolitan University
–
LIST OF ALL ENCAMPMENT OFFICIAL PAGES
McMaster University
McMaster University students started their encampment on Sunday, May 5, 2024!
Relevant Coverage from Instagram
OFFICIAL PAGE: @mcmastersphr
May 24: Agreement reached!
May 10
May 5
University of Toronto
UofT students have started their encampment on Thursday, May 2, 2024 at 4AM!
OFFICIAL PAGE: @occupyuoft
Photos
Photos are from May 2.
Relevant Coverage from Social Media
June 7: UofT still won’t negotiate with students
June 6: Meric Gertler writes another letter
June 6: Meric Gertler further exposed
June 1: Alumni March
May 27: UofT admin files injunction to allow TPS to remove student protestors by force
May 26: Students respond to UofT’s letter
May 25: UofT puts up trespassing notice
May 24: UofT hires street cleaners to erase names of dead Palestinian children written in chalk by students
May 18: UofT’s investments
May 15: Students continue educational programming
May 14: UofT admin meeting recap
May 12: UofT admin agrees to meet with students
May 12
May 5
May 2: Rally
May 2: Notice
May 2
Closures
For the week preceding the encampment, the University of Toronto temporarily closed encampment friendly areas in preparation for convocation… which is in late June. UofT students have been organizing walkouts, fundraisers and protests on campus to show solidarity with Palestine since October 7. It would make sense for the university’s administration to have expected a substantial encampment.
Warnings
UofT has also made statements threatening students with vague consequences. As one of the statements notes, all members of the UofT community have the right to “engage in peaceful assemblies and demonstrations.” Of course, in this case, students are discouraged from doing so as it would be a misuse of UofT’s “private property.” Land ownership strikes again.
Ontario Tech University
Ontario Tech University students started their encampment on Monday, May 7, 2024!
Relevant Coverage from Instagram
OFFICIAL PAGE: @OTU4palestine
MAY 20: AGREEMENT REACHED!
May 13
May 12: Notice from University admin
May 7
University of Waterloo
University of Waterloo students set up their encampment on May 13, 2024!
Relevant Coverage from Instagram
OFFICIAL PAGE: @OCCUPYWATERLOO
Dalhousie University
Dalhousie University students set up their encampment on May 12, 2024.
Relevant Coverage from Instagram
OFFICIAL PAGE: @students4liberatedpalestinehfx
May 12
University of Manitoba
University of Manitoba students set up their encampment on May 7, 2024!
Relevant Coverage from Instagram
OFFICIAL PAGE: @sjpuofm
May 12
May 11
May 10
May 7
University of Windsor
University of Windsor students launched a liberation zone on May 9, 2024. The liberation zone turned into an encampment on May 10, 2024!
Relevant Coverage from Instagram
OFFICIAL PAGE: @psguwindsor
May 13
May 11
May 10
May 9
University of Winnipeg
University of Winnipeg students set up their encampment on May 10, 2024!
May 14: Photos from The Free Press
Relevant Coverage from Instagram
OFFICIAL PAGE: @WPG4palestinehub
May 10
University of Sherbrooke
University of Sherbrooke students set up their encampment on May 13, 2024!
Relevant Coverage from Instagram
OFFICIAL PAGE: @sdhp.sherbrooke
May 15
May 13
University of Quebec (in Montreal)
University of Quebec (in Montreal) students set up their encampment on May 12, 2024!
Relevant Coverage from Instagram
OFFICIAL PAGE: @sdhpp.uqam
May 14
May 13: Launch day
University of Alberta
NOT ACTIVE
University of Alberta students set up their encampment on May 11, 2024!
Violent Dissolution by Police
Edmonton police violently cleared out the encampment just hours after it was set up.
Relevant Coverage from Instagram
OFFICIAL PAGE: @university4palestine.yeg
May 14: Students continue to protest
May 11
University of Calgary
NOT ACTIVE
University of Calgary students set up their encampment on May 9, 2024! Police violently cleared out the encampment on Thursday May 11, 2024.
Violent Dissolution by Police
CBC Video Coverage
Relevant Coverage from Instagram
OFFICIAL PAGE: @uofc_divest4pal
McGill University
As all of the McGill alumn in my life constantly remind me, McGill has always had an especially intense BDS movement. We must remember that Montreal’s 10 year old Palestine Libre mural is just blocks from the school.
McGill was the first Canadian encampment, starting on Saturday April 27! McGill administration has asked for police support in clearing the encampment.
Photos
Photos by Emily Ferguson and Sara Abdul.
Relevant Coverage from Instagram
OFFICIAL PAGE: @sphrmcgill
May 15
May 8
May 3
April 29
University of Ottawa
University of Ottawa students have taken over the Tabaret Hall lawn! The encampment began on April 29, 2024. The photos below are from May 1, 2024.
Photos
Photos by Rachel Stadder (@savoircare on Instagram).
Relevant Coverage from Instagram
OFFICIAL PAGE: @insafuottawa
May 15
May 12
April 29
University of British Columbia
UBC students started their encampment on April 29, 2024!
Relevant Coverage from Instagram
OFFICIAL PAGE: @peoplesuniversityubc
May 14
May 10
April 29
University of Victoria
UVic students started their encampment on May 1, 2024!
Relevant Coverage from Instagram
OFFICIAL PAGE: @peoplesparkuvic
MAY 12
May 10
May 1
Western University
Students at Western started their encampment on May 1, 2024!
Relevant Coverage from Instagram
OFFICIAL PAGE: @westernstudents4pali
May 6
May 1
Vancouver Island University
VIU students started their encampment on May 1, 2024!
Relevant Coverage from Instagram
OFFICIAL PAGE: @pse_viu
May 12
May 1
Students at other Toronto schools are being tempted…
In the brain dead words of our premier, Doug Ford, “don’t interrupt the students from learning… everybody should be living peacefully… I can’t stand all this conflict…I just hate it”. Oh Douglas, so do all of these students! They’re just choosing to deal with it by camping out in solidarity with the victims. Rather than by, complaining that it’s happening…
Toronto universities are showing real fear towards the possibility of student led encampments.
York University
NOT ACTIVE
York students started their encampment on June 5, 2024! Toronto police violently cleared out the encampment on Thursday June 6, 2024.
Violent Dissolution by Toronto Police
York University admin called the police on their students.
Relevant Coverage from Instagram
OFFICIAL PAGE: @ypu4p
June 6
June 5
Warnings
York University also has yet to see an encampment. Similarly to UofT, York admin issued an email statement to students, warning them about the consequences associated with illegal use of school grounds.
Photo by anonymous York University student
Side Note
The funny thing about York is that they’ve been on strike for MONTHS, and are now pushing their students through a condensed single month where students needs to complete upwards of 60% of their overall workload. York University students are already quite frustrated with York admin as it is. You can read more about the recent York strike here.
Toronto Metropolitan University
Closures
TMU has closed ideal grounds for encampments, specifying that these grounds are “private property”.
Photo from The Eyeopener.
Sit In
While the school hasn’t seen a full out encampment just yet, on April 30, students at TMU organized a sit in from 2 PM to 10 PM at the intersection of Victoria St and Gould St. You can read more about this action in TMU’s student newspaper, The Eyeopener.
Photo from The Eyeopener.
More information
Why are these students protesting?
These students are protesting against an ongoing genocide and occupation in Palestine by the Israeli military. So far, Israel has killed over 34k Palestinian civilians and injured over 77k Palestinian civilians in the last 7 months. Canada has been financially supporting this genocide through several facets, including investments by their largest universities.
Here is Palestinian journalist Bisan Owda on the student encampment movement:
LIST OF ALL ENCAMPMENT OFFICIAL INSTAGRAM PAGES
University of Waterloo @OCCUPYWATERLOO
Dalhousie University @students4liberatedpalestinehfx
University of Manitoba @sjpuofm
University of Windsor @psguwindsor
University of Winnipeg @WPG4palestinehub
University of Sherbrooke @sdhp.sherbrooke
University of Quebec (in Montreal) @sdhpp.uqam
University of Alberta @university4palestine.yeg
University of Calgary @uofc_divest4pal
Ontario Tech University @OTU4palestine
University of Toronto @occupyuoft
McMaster University @mcmastersphr
McGill University @sphrmcgill
University of Ottawa @insafuottawa
Western University @westernstudents4pali
University of British Columbia @peoplesuniversityubc
University of Victoria @peoplesparkuvic
Vancouver Island University @pse_viu
Resources
To learn more about how you can get involved, visit https://www.protectpalestine.org/
To learn more about the history of Israel’s decades long assault on Palestine, visit https://decolonizepalestine.com/
If you have better resources to share, please leave a reply.
Written by Sara Abdul
Edited by Emily Ferguson
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