The representative plaintiff, David Cobrin, is seeking a reimbursement of 33 per cent of the aggregate tuition and student fees paid by each Jewish student for the period since Oct. 8, 2023, as well as punitive damages in the amount of $5 million for harm suffered by the class as a whole.
“In addition to the generally toxic and intimidating environment on campus created by the unabated protests, Class Members were blocked and prevented from attending their classes, locked in the library for their protection, subjected to hate speech, harassed on campus and, in some cases, even physically assaulted,” the plaintiff alleged in an application filed to the Quebec Superior Court.
Cobrin has submitted that McGill breached its obligation to Jewish students by failing to take adequate disciplinary and preventative measures to protect them from harassment and discrimination. The applicant is being represented by Montreal-based law firm Fishman Flanz Meland Paquin LLP.
McGill University declined to comment on the proposed class action.
The lawsuit lists several examples of conduct that allegedly constituted harassment, discrimination and antisemitism on campus, including the conduct of protesters at an encampment calling for the university to divest from Israel-related funds.
The applicant also alleges that protesters on several occasions blocked students from physically accessing their classes, and on some occasions even physically assaulted students going to class.
Cobrin alleges that when he tried to attend class on Feb. 22, 2024, he found the entrance to one of the university buildings to be blocked by protesters, one of whom knocked him to the ground when he tried to manoeuvre his way past the protesters.
He alleges that McGill never contacted him to advise him of any effort to locate or take any disciplinary action against the individual who assaulted him, even though he reported the incident to the university.
Cobrin also alleges that protesters at the encampment surrounded a Jewish student and told him to go back to Europe and subsequently chanted “all Zionists are racists; the Zionists are the terrorists.”
Besides reimbursement and punitive damages, the lawsuit is also seeking a declaration that anti-Zionism is a manifestation of antisemitism under the university’s Policy on Harassment and Discrimination, such that it is impermissible for a student to be discriminated against on the grounds that they are a Zionist.
“McGill must be forced to acknowledge that anti-Zionism is a form of antisemitism, and they must be compelled to take meaningful change and implement policies and adopt and implement positions like an advisory position on antisemitism” said Richard Robertson, director of research and advocacy at B’nai Brith Canada, an organization that advocates against antisemitism.
B’nai Brith Canada has announced that it is supporting the proposed class action against McGill.
The lawsuit also alleges that a McGill-affiliated student club, Students for Palestinian Human Rights McGill (SPHR McGill), said in a Facebook post that Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks on Israel were “heroic” and it called on people to “celebrate the resistance’s success.”
The applicant alleges that it took almost a year for the Students’ Society of McGill University to revoke SPHR McGill’s status as a member club.
According to the application, McGill failed to take any significant disciplinary action against protesters, despite accepting on several occasions that protesters had used antisemitic language that violated university policies.
“B’nai Brith Canada supports every Canadian’s right to protest. We support every Canadian’s right to free speech where there are limits on our constitutionally protected rights, and nobody has the right to incite hate and to intimidate their fellow peers,” Roberston said.
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