Content warning: This article mentions antisemitism and discusses Islamophobia.
On November 29, President Meric Gertler announced that U of T will commission a Presidential, Provostial, and Vice-Presidential Working Group — the Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian Discrimination Working Group (MAP DWG). The group will review the university’s programs, activities, processes, and practices and make recommendations to support the university’s response to anti-Muslim, anti-Arab, and anti-Palestinian discrimination.
The announcement came almost two months after the one-year mark of Hamas’ attack on Israel, which killed approximately 1,139 people and captured more than 200 hostages on October 7, 2023. Since then, Israel’s ongoing attacks on Gaza have killed over 45,800 Palestinians and displaced approximately 2 million people.
Amid the violence in the Middle East, the administration has expressed concerns over rising levels of antisemitism and Islamophobia on campus. Students and campus groups claimed the university response inadequately addressed these issues.
Prior to the announcement of the working group, the university consulted with students and faculty, including members of the Muslim Students’ Association (MSA) at U of T. In interviews with The Varsity, members of the MSA shared their concerns about the creation of the working group and addressing Islamophobic incidents with the university.
What’s in a working group?
From 2020 to 2022, the university administration has commissioned working groups to address antisemitism and anti-Asian racism and a task force to address anti-Black racism at U of T. Each working group released a final report outlining a number of recommendations for the university — all of which have been accepted by the administration.
The MAP DWG has a mandate to engage in consultations with students, faculty, staff, and librarians, starting in winter 2025. The group will then deliver its final report with recommendations for senior leadership. Members of the U of T community who are interested in consulting with the working group can submit their self-nominations by January 17 on an online form.
The group intends to consult with the U of T community about their experiences of anti-Muslim, anti-Arab, and anti-Palestinian discrimination; review previous U of T equity reports on “faith and anti-racism inclusive practices”; and develop an inventory of resources, initiatives, departments, and projects that address forms of anti-Muslim, anti-Arab, and anti-Palestinian discrimination for all three campuses.
The working group is chaired by Anver Emon, a professor of law and history, the Canada Research Chair in Islamic Law & History, and the Director at the Institute of Islamic Studies.
According to the MAP DWG website, the university began addressing Islamophobia on campus in 2017 by establishing an Institutional Advisory Table. In 2019, the table evolved into the Anti-Islamophobia Working Group. The MAP DWG builds on these previous efforts by the university.
Delays with the working group
In November 2023, the MSA requested to meet with Vice-Provost, Students Sandy Welsh to address student concerns surrounding the administration’s response to the ongoing violence in Gaza. Two months later, the MSA requested a meeting with Gertler where they requested monthly meetings with the administration. Since then, the group met with the administration monthly, and every two months in the summer, to discuss creating the working group.
For Mohamad Yassin — a second-year master’s student studying electrical engineering and president of the MSA — launching the working group “took way longer than we expected.”
“Since the summer, it felt like it was always just around the corner,” he explained in an interview with The Varsity. “But it was just never launched. [It] just kept being delayed.”
According to Yassin, the delay was because it became “extremely difficult” for the administration to find co-chairs for the working group “even though we suggested people who could be co-chairs.”
“Given the fact that the working group was covering Muslims, Arabs, and Palestinians, the MSA and the administration agreed this necessitated a much larger structure compared to other working groups, hence two co-chairs,” wrote Maria Saqqur — a third-year student studying peace, justice, and conflict and the MSA’s Vice-President (VP) External — in an email to The Varsity.
Another professor was initially considered to be co-chair, but decided to step down from the working group before its launch. In another email, Saqqur confirmed that, in a meeting with the administration, they said Emon would be the chair and the focus of the group would be on institutional Islamophobia.
Safety concerns
Yassin explained that he also raised concerns with the administration about incidents of Islamophobia that took place during a September 6 back-to-school pro-Palestine rally at King’s College Circle.
He noted that during the rally, counterprotesters — including one person named Ron Banarjee — were “[saying] very hateful and very vile content” toward community members, including Islamophobic speech.
In a September 13 joint Instagram post by the MSA and Humans of the Ummah — a U of T community organization within the MSA — they referred to Banarjee as one of the “hostile agitators” present during the rally. In the post, they noted that the university should have taken steps to remove these counterprotesters once they started “spewing hate speech.”
A university spokesperson has confirmed that Banerjee has since been issued a trespass notice from Campus Safety.
Yassin also claimed that the external security group Magen Herut Canada was “there to intimidate and to potentially even harm students in whatever way they can.”
Magen Herut Canada founder Aaron Hadida noted that the group was there “to protect members of the Jewish community,” in an email to The Varsity. He added that he will not address “vague claims” in the absence of specifics of incidents that concerned people.
In another email to The Varsity, Emon wrote, “Their presence poses fundamental questions like ‘Whose security matters?’, and ‘Are there hierarchies of safety based on capacity to pay?’”
“Those communities in Canada who have long been racially profiled by police and national security are aware that differentials in our respective expectations of safety already exist in Canada,” he added.
Technical difficulties
The MSA held a press conference on September 12 to call on the university to ban the presence of external security groups on campus following the incidents at the rally. The group also emailed the university on September 10, requesting a meeting with Gertler and Welsh and a statement from the administration to condemn hate speech and reaffirm U of T’s priority toward student safety.
Before receiving an email response from the administration, the MSA met with the Executive Director, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Jodie Glean-Mitchell and the Executive Director, Office of the Vice-Provost, Students Robyn Parr for their regularly scheduled monthly meeting to discuss the working group launch.
Saqqur claimed that when the group went into the meeting, the administration didn’t acknowledge the incident at the rally, the MSA’s email or their press conference.
However, she noted that once the MSA told the administration about the incident during the meeting, they apologized and said there was “a technical difficulty” in responding to their email.
In emails obtained by The Varsity, Glean-Mitchell and Parr responded on October 3 to the MSA’s email, attributing their delayed response to an IT issue.
Glean-Mitchell and Parr also wrote that “[members] of the public are generally allowed, like those who were present on September 6, in unrestricted areas of our campuses as long as they abide by the law and University policies,” and noted that Campus Safety was aware of the groups and requested that they leave campus.
“The University has a high threshold for expression, and that can include speech and imagery that are uncomfortable and offensive to many,” they added.
An acknowledgement
In a November 5 email also obtained by The Varsity, VP People Strategy, Equity & Culture Kelly Hannah-Moffat and VP & Provost Trevor Young thanked the MSA for reaching out to the administration regarding the rally incident.
The email noted that the initial delay in the administration’s response “did not match the seriousness of [the MSA’s] concerns,” and recognized “how unsupported, vulnerable and afraid many members of the community have felt.”
“We additionally acknowledge that some of the behaviours and expressions of individuals involved in the counter-protest on September 6 were Islamophobic and deeply impacted some Muslim students and employees at the University,” they wrote. “We need to do more and do better to support any community member who experiences Islamophobia and racism, including anti-Palestinian discrimination, on our campuses.”
Saqqur claimed that the administration told them to circulate this acknowledgement within their own community, rather than the university publicizing it to the entire U of T community. For Saqqur, this “felt a little belittling to the situation,” noting that Islamophobia is “a threat to everyone.”
Yassin also alleged that in a meeting with Campus Safety’s Ryan Dow — the assistant director, Community Liaison & Support Team — he noted a “failing” in Campus Safety’s response to the incident. According to Yassin, Dow said that Campus Safety would undergo anti-hate training to inform future responses.
Additionally, Yassin said they will continue to meet with the university monthly to discuss other issues students face on campus.
A U of T spokesperson wrote in a statement to The Varsity that “When there are further public updates [to the working group], they will be available on the webpage for the working group.”
“Matters raised by students, student groups and faculty members are addressed with those groups and individuals as appropriate.”
If you or someone you know has experienced harassment or discrimination based on race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship and/or creed at U of T, report the incident to the Anti-Racism and Cultural Diversity office: https://antiracism.utoronto.ca/help/.
You can report incidents of anti-Muslim racism through the National Council of Canadian Muslims’ Hate Crime Reporting form at https://www.nccm.ca/programs/incident-report-form/.
If you or someone you know has experienced Islamophobia, or anti-Muslim racism, or is in distress, you can contact:
- Canadian Muslim Counselling at 437-886-6309 or [email protected]
- Islamophobia Support Line at 416-613-8729
- Nisa Helpline at 1-888-315-6472 or [email protected]
- Naseeha Mental Health at 1-866-627-3342
- Khalil Center at 1-855-554-2545 or [email protected]
- Muslim Women Support Line at 647-622-2221 or [email protected]
If you or someone you know is in distress, you can call:
- Canada Suicide Prevention Service phone available 24/7 at 1-833-456-4566
- Good 2 Talk Student Helpline at 1-866-925-5454
- Connex Ontario Mental Health Helpline at 1-866-531-2600
- Gerstein Centre Crisis Line at 416-929-5200
- U of T Health & Wellness Centre at 416-978-8030
If you or someone you know has experienced antisemitism and is in distress, you can contact:
- Hillel Ontario at [email protected]
- Chai Lifeline Canada’s Crisis Intervention Team at 1 (800) 556-6238 or [email protected]
- Jewish Family and Child Services of Greater Toronto at 416 638-7800 x 6234
The Hamilton Jewish Family Services at [email protected]