Judge orders pro-Palestinian camp off Vancouver Island University

A B.C. Supreme Court judge has issued three days notice for pro-Palestinian protesters to dismantle an encampment which has occupied the heart of Vancouver Island University's campus for more than 100 days.

Justice Michael Stephens gave VIU an interim injunction to force the protesters out Thursday morning following a three-day hearing spread over the past week.

The judge narrowed the scope of the order the university was seeking, ordering the protesters away from any outdoor location and off the grassy quadrangle they've filled with tents, tarpaulins and signs, instead of the campus as a whole.

The order is for 150 days.

'The court missed a critical opportunity'

The decision was panned by the B.C. Civil Liberties Association — one of a handful of interveners from across the country who filed submissions for Stephens to consider.

"Freedom of expression should be protected unless there is an exceptional justification for its restriction," BCCLA lawyer Ga Grant said in a written statement.

"Today, the court missed a critical opportunity to align the law with our Charter rights and values."

The encampment sits in a quadrangle between the campus library, the cafeteria and a performing arts theatre. In publicity material, VIU describes it as "a place to study and play in the central area of campus."

In its application for an injunction, VIU claimed the area has been constantly occupied by as many as 35 people, demanding VIU acknowledge "the genocide of Palestinians" and disclose investments "complicit in human rights violations."

The university claimed protesters were "belligerent and called the university representatives 'incompetent, disingenuous and unprepared.'"

They also denied any of the harms the university claimed to have suffered — including alleged costs of $870,000 and the resignation of staff.

Right to protest 'does not exist in a vacuum'

VIU argued that the case was a simple matter of trespass — an argument that the BCCLA said Stephens appeared to accept, finding "Charter rights did not undermine the university's private property owner rights."

The bulk of interveners lined up in support of the students, including the National Council of Canadian Muslims and the Arab Canadian Lawyers Association, which claimed VIU's application revealed "underlying biases against "Palestinians, Arabs and/or Muslims."

B'nai Brith — an organization dedicated to combating racism and antisemitism — was the only organization to back the university.

"The right to protest on campus does not exist in a vacuum," said Aron Csaplaros, B'nai Brith Canada's regional manager for B.C.

"Protesters' rights to freedom of expression and protest must be balanced with the rights of VIU students, faculty, and staff to an environment free from harassment, intimidation, and limitation of their use of VIU's property."

Stephens adjourned the question of whether police should be able to enforce the order.

Last month, an Ontario judge ordered protesters to dismantle a camp at the University of Toronto after a similar application.

In that case the judge found the encampment was neither violent nor antisemitic — but he did find the protesters were preventing others from using key parts of the campus.