Tag Archives: UMSU

CSCP: SFSC shares grave concern about UMSU’s decision to ban SAIA

Canadian Students’ Coalition for Palestine

SFSC has signed on to the following statement. Other organizations are invited to sign on to this statement. To sign on, email canadianSCP@gmail.com or use the online form.

April 14, 2013
To: The University of Manitoba Students’ Union Council
Local 103 of the Canadian Federation of Students, 101 University Centre, Winnipeg, MB

We are writing to express our grave concern about the UMSU’s decision to revoke the student club status of the University of Manitoba’s branch of Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA), and further to ban SAIA from operating in “UMSU spaces.” By denying students at UManitoba the right to initiate and operate SAIA, you are denying them the right to engage in criticism of the State of Israel, and this decision is a flagrant violation of students’ Fundamental Freedoms of Expression and of Association as enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms under sections 2(b) and 2(d). Continue reading

UMSU: Resolution banning Students Against Israeli Apartheid

IAW Council Motion (March 2013)

WCAIA: Coalition will fight ban of Students Against Israeli Apartheid

NEWS RELEASE
For immediate release, Saturday, April 13, 2013

U of M Students’ Union urged to support human rights and freedom of speech

WINNIPEG—The Winnipeg Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (WCAIA) is appalled by the University of Manitoba Students’ Union’s April 11 decision to end Students Against Israeli Apartheid’s student group status and ban it from operating in students’ union space.

The motion passed by UMSU Council equates criticism of the Israeli government to discrimination and harassment, and takes extraordinary measures against a student group, although it appears no evidence was presented to substantiate the accusations.

“We are shocked that UMSU would ban Students Against Israeli Apartheid without any evidence or basis for the accusations brought forward in the motion,” said Liz Carlyle, spokesperson for the Winnipeg Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid. “It is clear that the architects of the motion aimed to silence opposition to the Israeli government’s Apartheid policies.”
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National Post: University of Manitoba Students Union ignores legal advice, votes to strip anti-Israel group of official club status

Tristin Hopper, National Post

In what B’nai Brith called a “precedent setting move,” the University of Manitoba Students Union voted Thursday to strip the group Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) of official club status.

The motion bars SAIA from receiving student union funding or using activity space in student-union controlled buildings.

The motion was adopted despite an opinion by the student union’s lawyer, who argued that it could leave the union open to litigation.
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B’nai Brith: First Campus Victory in Canada

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Toronto, April 12, 2013 — B’nai Brith Canada extends its congratulations to the students at University of Manitoba that spearheaded last night’s University of Manitoba Students Union (UMSU) resolution that stripped Students Against Israel Apartheid (SAIA) of its status as a student group and banned Israel Apartheid Week (IAW) from UMSU property.
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