December 20, 2024
MONTREAL – In a major victory for the Jewish community, B’nai Brith Canada’s legal advocacy has resulted in the Post-Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS) rescinding a series of discriminatory motions adopted in the months after Hamas’ brutal Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks on Israel.
“It is shameful that McGill’s student societies appear unable to act in the best interest of all their members unless they are compelled to do so,” said Henry Topas, B’nai Brith’s Regional Director for Quebec and Atlantic Canada. “We will continue to work to ensure that McGill’s campus remains a safe and welcome space for all its community members.”
B’nai Brith has been supporting a student plaintiff who sued the PGSS in June 2024 to prevent the association from bringing into effect a series of motions its executive council adopted between December 2023 and February 2024. These were passed to express support for a referendum by the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) — the PGSS’s undergraduate equivalent — on a so-called “Policy Against Genocide in Palestine.” Among other issues, this policy omitted any mention of Hamas’ brutal Oct. 7 terrorist attacks on Israel.
The PGSS had adopted the motions even though McGill declared the SSMU policy to be unconstitutional. In a separate legal action, B’nai Brith is supporting an undergraduate student plaintiff in their efforts to challenge to the results of the unconstitutional referendum. So far, the plaintiff has been successful in obtaining an interlocutory injunction temporarily stopping the Board of Directors from ratifying the outcome.
In the PGSS case, Tina Silverstein and Matthew Meland from Fishman Flanz Meland Paquin LLP, secured a Provisional Agreement last July on behalf of the graduate student plaintiff. The agreement ensured that the PGSS would refrain from implementing the motions while the matter was being litigated. McGill, for its part, declared the motions to be “null and void,” as well as “contrary to [PGSS’] purpose.” The University further pledged to sanction the PGSS if it implemented them.
Over the summer, after the PGSS failed to deal with the offending motion. McGill notified PGSS that pursuing the motions had put the association in default of its Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with the institution. The PGSS cannot operate without this contract, which allows it to receive funding from the university.
As a result of B’nai Brith’s continued efforts on behalf of the graduate student plaintiff, the PGSS finally rescinded the anti-Israel motions.
“This is a win for McGill’s Jewish students and for the entire campus community,” said Richard Robertson, B’nai Brith Canada’s Director of Research and Advocacy. “We will not stand by idly and allow student associations to discriminate against their own members.”
