The Federal Minister of Justice does not take sides in the confrontation between McGill University and the students who set up a camp on its campus, but indicates that police intervention is justified if the demonstrators break the law.
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“If there is reason to believe that criminal law has been violated, it is clearly McGill University, like any other university [le droit de] “Call the police,” Minister Arif Virani said in a press conference on Tuesday morning.
The administration of the University of Montreal called on the police to remove the demonstrators from the university campus, who set up a camp there to denounce the war being waged against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, similar to other student movements on university campuses in the United States.
- Hear Yves Poirier on site at McGill and Marvin Rotrand, Executive Director of United Against Hate Canada discuss the conflict:
An application for a temporary injunction targeting the camp will be filed Tuesday in Quebec Superior Court by lawyer Neil Opperman, who represents two students from the institution.
Mr Virani, a graduate of McGill University's law school, did not want to get involved any further because the situation was “too complicated”.
“What I would say is that at the end of the day, it is up to McGill to try to manage this situation,” declared Minister Virani, who noted in passing that universities are more the prerogative of the provinces than the federal government.
“As to whether property was damaged, whether there was vandalism, whether people were prevented from studying, it is ultimately up to McGill to investigate and address, including by appealing to the provincial government to provide its assistance,” he said in English.
The minister stressed that freedom of expression is guaranteed by the Constitution, but it does not allow the promotion of hatred and intimidation.
Student mobilization against the war in Gaza is shaking many universities in the United States, the United Kingdom, and France in particular.
– With QMI agency
