Jeffery Vacante, National Post, June 23, 2024
An anti-hate group recently attacked the leadership of McGill University for what it called its “weak-kneed response” to the protesters who have set up an encampment on its campus. Suggesting that “it is time for McGill to stand with its Jewish students who have been victimized for months now on campus,” the group called on the university to do more to put an end to the encampment.
Tellingly, the group did not say what it thought McGill should do to end the protest. Indeed, it is not entirely clear what McGill can do at this point. After all, it has already asked the Montreal police to intervene — only to have the police refuse. It has gone to court to seek an injunction against the protesters — only to have the Superior Court of Quebec reject its request on the grounds that the protesters were acting peacefully and thus not really causing any harm. And it has tried to negotiate with the protesters, who are not really interested in negotiating and who recently dismissed the university’s latest offer as “laughable.”
The anger being directed at McGill for its supposed failure to end the encampment should be directed, instead, toward the Quebec government. The government led by François Legault has said virtually nothing about the encampment. To be sure, not long after the first tents went up, Legault did suggest that the tents should be dismantled. But since then, his government has remained largely silent on the issue…. SOURCE