A Quebec Superior Court judge has denied McGill University’s request for an injunction that would have limited protests on campus, according to the Confédération des syndicats nationaux.
Five labour unions at the university, including the Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill, opposed the injunction request. The unions argued the order would have restricted their ability to organize and demonstrate on campus.
Court cites lack of evidence
Judge Ferland ruled McGill failed to prove “serious and irreparable harm” would be prevented by granting the injunction, according to the union. The judge stated an interlocutory injunction “is an exceptional form of relief that may severely restrain individual liberty and lead to draconian consequences,” and concluded the request was “not warranted by the evidence,” the union said.
Dallas Jokic, co-president of AGSEM, said the injunction “would not only have curtailed organizing against the genocide in Gaza, but it would also have threatened the fundamental rights of students and workers to protest and express themselves on campus.”
Union concerns about bargaining rights
Emma McKay, co-president of AGSEM, said the injunction would have given McGill management broad authority to shut down protests. “A ruling in McGill’s favour could have been weaponized against our ability to organize during bargaining, undermining our collective power at the negotiating table,” McKay said.
Bertrand Guibord, president of the Conseil central du Montréal Métropolitain, said McGill’s claim of “preserving campus safety” was a pretext to limit union and student activity. “Workers’ ability to express themselves, organize, and disrupt is their most powerful tool,” Guibord said.
Saleha Hedaraly, vice-president of the Fédération Nationale des Enseignantes et Enseignants du Québec, called the ruling “a decisive victory for free expression” following what she described as “relentless attacks on free speech from management boards and interest groups across Québec.”
