Federal Report Finds Campus Anti-Jewism Widespread as Quebec Court Authorizes Class Action

A federal government commissioned report has found that nearly every Jewish student surveyed experienced or witnessed anti-Jewish conduct on a Canadian campus over the past year. The report was released one day after a Quebec judge authorized a class action accusing McGill University of failing to protect its Jewish students.

The Campus Antisemitism and Student Experiences report surveyed approximately 900 Jewish students at Canadian universities, colleges and CEGEPs. Of those who responded, 95.7 per cent said they had experienced or witnessed at least one anti-Jewish incident during the previous 12 months, while 84 per cent said anti-Jewism was a serious problem on campus.

Seventy per cent said their university does not take the problem seriously and 68 per cent said their campus is not a safe and inclusive place for Jewish students. Seventy-two per cent said they limit what they say in class about being Jewish and 57 per cent avoid wearing or displaying Jewish symbols because they are concerned for their safety. One in five reported physical violence directed at Jews on campus.

The report describes anti-Jewism as persistent and growing, and says that on some campuses it has become a normal part of university life. Students described being threatened, chased from buildings, pushed out of campus organizations and singled out by professors.

One student said a friend wearing a kippah was walking through a university building when a group shouted, “There’s a Jew, let’s get him,” and chased him from the building. Another described Jewish students eating near an encampment when a woman approached them and shouted, “Hitler was right.”

Students also reported professors bringing Israel and Gaza into courses that had nothing to do with the Middle East. Some said they felt pressured to agree with their professors’ views on Israel or remain silent out of fear that speaking would affect their grades or standing in the class.

The report also found widespread dissatisfaction among students who complained. Many said university administrators minimized what happened, treated it as a political disagreement or did nothing.

The McGill class action will now put those failures before a court.

On Tuesday, Quebec Superior Court Justice Dominique Poulin authorized a class action against McGill on behalf of Jewish students registered at the university since October 8, 2023. The case was brought by former McGill undergraduate David Cobrin and is supported by B’nai Brith Canada.

“The situation which prevailed at McGill after the events of Oct. 7, 2023, is exceptional and complex,” Poulin wrote in her 16-page judgment. She ruled that the allegations presented a case that stood a chance at trial and deserved to be heard.

The class includes undergraduate, graduate, continuing education, doctoral and postdoctoral Jewish students registered at McGill between October 8, 2023, and the date on which official notice of the authorization judgment is published.

Cobrin alleges that McGill knew Jewish students were being harassed, intimidated, excluded and, in some cases, physically assaulted, but failed to enforce its own policies. The lawsuit says students were blocked from attending classes, subjected to hate speech and pushed out of parts of campus life because they were Jewish or identified as Zionists.

The encampment was only part of what was happening at McGill. Protesters blocked entrances to buildings and prevented students from attending classes. Jewish students were intimidated as they moved through campus and, during one demonstration, were kept inside the Bronfman Building library for their own protection.

On June 6, 2024, protesters broke into the James Administration Building, barricaded the entrances, damaged furniture and threatened employees. Police were eventually called in and arrested 15 people. Outside, stones and pyrotechnic devices were thrown at officers.

For months, Jewish students who paid tuition to attend McGill had to think about which buildings they could enter, which routes they could safely take and whether it was safe to be visibly Jewish. McGill released statements, issued warnings and waited. The students were left to deal with what was happening on their campus.

Cobrin says he participated less in class, spent less time studying on campus and became reluctant to tell others he was Jewish. He also stopped putting on tefillin publicly because he feared being identified.

The lawsuit points to McGill’s own disciplinary figures. Despite months of protests, building occupations, classroom disruptions and physical confrontations, the university reported few serious non-academic penalties during the 2023–2024 school year.

According to the court filing, seven students were admonished for offences involving obstruction, unauthorized entry, theft or property damage. Fifteen were admonished or reprimanded under a category that included physical abuse, harassment and dangerous activity. Only two received reprimands that would remain on their permanent disciplinary records.

The plaintiffs argue that McGill repeatedly condemned what was happening but rarely followed those statements with consequences. The lawsuit seeks reimbursement of 33 per cent of the tuition and student fees paid by Jewish students during the class period, along with $5 million in collective punitive damages.

It also asks the court to order McGill to enforce its policies and recognize anti-Zionism as a manifestation of antisemitism under its harassment and discrimination rules. That would make it a violation of university policy to discriminate against a student because the student identifies as a Zionist.

McGill will likely point to the steps it eventually took, including condemning anti-Jewish material, asking police to remove the encampment, seeking an injunction and finally hiring a private security firm to dismantle it. The case will decide whether those actions were enough and why it took so long for them to happen.

Independent Jewish Voices Canada has criticized the federal report, arguing that the survey relied on a self-selected and unweighted sample recruited largely through established Jewish organizations. The report acknowledges that limitation and says the results describe the experiences of those who responded rather than every Jewish student in Canada.

That does not change what nearly 900 Jewish students reported. They hid their identities, avoided parts of their campuses and remained silent in classrooms because they were afraid of their classmates, their professors or what would happen if they complained.

University administrators have spent nearly three years pretending this was complicated. It was not. Jewish students were afraid to wear Jewish symbols, speak in class or walk through their own campuses. Their universities knew it and failed to stop it.

The federal report has now put those failures into numbers, the McGill class action will put them into evidence. After years of statements, committees and excuses, the university will finally have to explain why Jewish students were expected to hide while those threatening them were allowed to carry on.