Update: MoA with McGill University

Context

McGill University has issued a notice of default of QPIRG’s Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with McGill, threatening to suspend our student funding if we do not sever our support for SPHR.

In the context of increasing repression against SPHR and pro-Palestine activism, McGill University has issued a notice of default of QPIRG’s Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with McGill, threatening to suspend our student funding if we do not sever our support for SPHR. 

By issuing a notice of default, McGill claims that QPIRG has broken the obligations stipulated in our MoA, which includes respecting McGill policies. McGill alleges that SPHR has broken the student Code of Conduct, and due to our association with them, we are also being accused of breaking our obligations to this code. However, neither a court nor even an internal tribunal of McGill has found SPHR in violation of anything. Instead, the university is scapegoating SPHR for the actions of individuals that McGill has failed to identify. 

In order to remedy the alleged MoA default, McGill has demanded that we remove our association with SPHR altogether, including mentions on our website, their working group status, as well as all the financial and administrative support that their status entails. If QPIRG fails to do so, McGill has threatened to terminate the Memorandum of Agreement and place QPIRG’s finances in an interim trust until QPIRG is “restructured and reinstated.” Despite the decades of referendums confirming student support for our fee, McGill has total control over the delivery of our funds to us via our MOA and is wielding this financial power against us due to spurious allegations against SPHR, none of which have been proven in a court of law.

In order to remedy the alleged MoA default, McGill has demanded that we remove our association with SPHR altogether.

This is why we need your help. We are planning to contest the notice of default and take McGill to arbitration, but the fees for lawyers and arbitration are prohibitively high. Because our MOA guarantees that the costs of arbitration shall be split evenly between us and the University, McGill has a significant upper hand in this process. We have a team of social-justice-oriented lawyers, led by Julius Grey, ready to help us at a very reduced rate, having already offered us many hours of free and reduced-cost services. Unfortunately, the reality is that the costs of taking legal action–even just defending ourselves–still add up quickly to the point where we cannot afford to do this on our own. Only through support from the community will we have a real chance of fighting and winning.

Donate to our legal fundraiser here!

High stakes for the whole community

There’s more at stake than merely QPIRG’s existence. 

First, McGill is using its financial and legal power to bully smaller organizations like QPIRG in its attempt to isolate and suppress student activism, especially around Palestine. McGill has issued similar threats to the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) and the Post-Graduate Student Society (PGSS) in an attempt to cut off financial support for student activism in solidarity with Palestine and push activist groups like SPHR off of campus. Their legal and financial resources are nigh-endless, especially since their Law Faculty is amongst the most prominent in the country, and politically well-connected. This is merely another attempt by McGill to suppress student activism towards divestment by removing pillars of material support for activists on the ground. If QPIRG-McGill capitulates to McGill immediately, we would block off one of the last avenues for pro-Palestinian organizing on campus, but if we contest until they bankrupt us, students will lose one of the independent voices willing to fight for them on campus.

This is merely another attempt by McGill to suppress student activism towards divestment by removing pillars of material support for activists on the ground.

Second, QPIRG remains a vital bridge between students and the broader Montreal community. The organization helps students not only learn, but also integrate themselves into the broader struggles taking place within the city. Because of the alleged default, McGill cancelled a training on understanding homelessness that QPIRG was set to present for incoming frosh coordinators. Few other organizations on campus are similarly focused on expanding student activism beyond campus. 

Finally, the material support given by QPIRG to working groups remains a pillar of power in the community. We are proud to have worked with different groups and provided expertise, financing, information and volunteers. The outcome of this battle will have a significant effect on activism at large in the community.

We are asking for the community’s support to keep pro-Palestine activism on campus.

Fundraiser

The money we raise will go directly towards our legal fees, and any money raised in excess will be donated to a legal fund supporting activists in Tio:tia’ke. Our current estimate for our legal fees is as follows:

$900: Legal consultations

$5000: Legal fees for representation during arbitration

$1000: various “disbursements” like printing, research, etc. 

$4200: Arbitrator fees (8 hours for hearing, 6 hours for prep x $600/hr divided by 2)

TOTAL: $ 11,100.

What else you can do to help

There are other things you can do to support us if you cannot donate at the moment: 

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