Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses for being here.
My questions are for B'nai Brith. Thank you again for being here today. As a little bit of background, I wasn't familiar with anti-Semitism. I grew up in rural Manitoba, and it wasn't something we were really exposed to. I later went to McGill University, and my first exposure to this were large, from my perspective, very angry protests for the Boycott, Divest, Sanctions movement, or whatever you'd like to call it. That's where I first started learning about these issues, and those images of seeing those protests really stayed with me.
I know recently that McGill University was in quite a bit of hot water regarding their student society. There's a news release on your website that refers to how the student society recently voted “to adopt an extreme 'Palestine Solidarity Policy'”, which is a document that accuses Israel “of engaging in 'settler-colonial apartheid against Palestinians', and commits SSMU, the students' society, “to boycott all entities [it calls] 'complicit' in this activity.”
Your interpretation of that is that the document is “so broad that it may compel [the students' society] to boycott virtually all Jewish clubs and associations on campus.”
I have considerable concerns with this and the impact on Jewish students both at McGill, but also in all universities across Canada. I'd like you to comment on the impact this has on Jewish students, and what it is like for them to attend university under these circumstances.