Canadian university accused of ‘banning’ Jewish students
Suit filed in Ontario seeks legal review, damages for alleged discrimination, starting when the student government endorsed BDS in January
On August 3, Hasbara Fellowships Canada filed a formal complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal, where it accused the student and faculty associations of the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) and Durham College of discriminating against Jewish students and Israel, following the banning of Hasbara Fellowships Canada from participating in a student association-sponsored “Social Justice Week” five months ago.
In an email sent by UOIT’s faculty association to Robert Walker, national director of Hasbara Fellowships Canada, the reason for banning a Jewish student group at the publicly funded university was explained:
“The Student Association passed a motion endorsing the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement [in January],” read the faculty association’s email to Walker. “Your organization seems closely tied to the state of Israel and as such, it would be against the motion to provide any type of resources to your organization,” said the email.
According to Walker, this ban was “the most open incident of discrimination targeting Jewish students in Canada from a student government I have ever seen,” as he told The Times of Israel.
