The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement is supported by multiple Canadian labor groups, various student unions at universities around the country. (Photo: @bccla/Twitter)
Over the last 18 years, there have been about 30 BDS victories on Canadian University Campuses.
Dalhousie Student Union (DSU) (March 2024), 20,000+ undergraduate students, divestment from companies complicit in genocide
Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) (April 2024), 25,000+ undergraduate students, not invest in companies complicit with settlement
Simon Fraser Student Society, Palestinian Liberation Policy, April 21, 2022
AMS at UBC, urge UBC to divest, March 25, 2022, 58,000 students
Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU), anti-apartheid, includes boycott, March 21, 2022, 71%, 25,000 students
Concordia Student Union (CSU), anti-apartheid, includes divestment, March 2022, 86% approval, 35,000 students
The University of Toronto Student Union (UTSU), divestment, February 16, 2022, 38,000 students
Canadian Federation of Students / Fédération canadienne des étudiantes et étudiants (CFS-CFEE) (November 2018), 500,000+ students
The Ontario branch of the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS-O) (August 2014), 300,000+ members
*York University Faculty of Environmental Studies academic boycott (November 2017)
*King’s University College University of Western (March 2017)
* Alma Mater Society, University of British Columbia: BC Supreme Court Win (April 2016), 48,000+ students
*University of Ontario Institute of Technology and Durham College, Oshawa March 2016
*Dalhousie Student Union (Divestment motion), (April 2016)
*McMaster Student Union, Hamilton (March 2015)
* University of Windsor Students’ Alliance (UWSA) motion to support BDS (March 2014)
* Ryerson University Student Union, Toronto (March 2014)
*University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union (March 2013-Divestment)
*University of Toronto’s Graduate Students’ Union (March 2013-Divestment)
* University of Toronto Scarborough Campus Students Union (April 2013)
* York University Federation of Students (March 2013)* Trent University Central Students Association (February 2013)* University of Toronto Mississauga Students Union (February 2013)
* Concordia Graduate Students Association (January 2013)
* University of Toronto Graduate Students Association (December 2012)
* York University Graduate Students Association (November 2012)
* Graduate Students Association at Carleton University (March 2012)
* University of Regina Students Union (February 2012)
* Solidarite Syndicale Étudiante (ASSÉ) (October 2007)
Note that not all of these “wins” re for full BDS support but in some cases related to settlement goods.
Faculty & Academic Associations
- Syndicat général des professeures et professeurs de l’Université de Montréal (SGPPUM) (March 2024), 1,400 faculty
- SGPPUM, the Faculty Association at the University of Montreal, voted in support of “a boycott of Israeli universities complicit in Israeli war crimes, until Israel complies with all its obligations under international law.”
- SGPPUM, the Faculty Association at the University of Montreal, voted in support of “a boycott of Israeli universities complicit in Israeli war crimes, until Israel complies with all its obligations under international law.”
- Windsor University Faculty Association (WUFA) (April 2024)
- WUFA voted at their Annual General Meeting to divest “from any companies and investments complicit in Israeli war crimes or illegal occupation,” to work towards ending the university’s “cooperation with Israeli academic and cultural institutions,” and to build ties with Palestinian universities.
- WUFA voted at their Annual General Meeting to divest “from any companies and investments complicit in Israeli war crimes or illegal occupation,” to work towards ending the university’s “cooperation with Israeli academic and cultural institutions,” and to build ties with Palestinian universities.
- Wilfrid Laurier University Faculty Association (WLUFA) (April 2024)
- WLUFA voted for a “complete university divestment and boycott of all institutions and corporations complicit in Israeli war crimes […],” and to support Palestinian academics at risk.
- WLUFA voted for a “complete university divestment and boycott of all institutions and corporations complicit in Israeli war crimes […],” and to support Palestinian academics at risk.
- Renison Association of Academic Staff (RAAS) (April 2024), which represents faculty at Renison University College, affiliated with the University of Waterloo.
- RAAS passed a motion calling for the university to “divest and boycott all institutions and corporations (especially academic and educational) complicit in Israeli war crimes, breaches of international war, and all human rights violations in Occupied Palestinian Territories,” and to build links with Palestinian academics.
- RAAS passed a motion calling for the university to “divest and boycott all institutions and corporations (especially academic and educational) complicit in Israeli war crimes, breaches of international war, and all human rights violations in Occupied Palestinian Territories,” and to build links with Palestinian academics.
- Emily Carr University Faculty Association (ECUFA) (April 2024)
- ECUFA passed a motion to “support the international campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), until Israel meets its obligation to recognize the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with the precepts of international law […].”
- University of Saskatchewan Faculty Association (USFA) (May 2024)
- USFA voted at the Annual General Meeting to endorse “the global movement for an institutional Boycott, Divestments, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against the state of Israel,” condemn scholasticide in Gaza, and support Palestinian academics.
- USFA voted at the Annual General Meeting to endorse “the global movement for an institutional Boycott, Divestments, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against the state of Israel,” condemn scholasticide in Gaza, and support Palestinian academics.
- Toronto Metropolitan University Faculty Association (TFA) (May 2024)
- TFA voted to “establish a committee to investigate the university’s academic and financial interests linked to the genocide of Palestinians,” dedicated to the objectives of divestment and ending cooperation with Israeli academic and cultural institutions.
- TFA voted to “establish a committee to investigate the university’s academic and financial interests linked to the genocide of Palestinians,” dedicated to the objectives of divestment and ending cooperation with Israeli academic and cultural institutions.
- Dalhousie Faculty Association (DFA) (May 2024)
- DFA voted at the Annual General Meeting to demand that the university “suspend all institutional partnerships with Israeli academic institutions and divest from and boycott all Israeli institutions until Israel ends its policies of military occupation and apartheid.”
- DFA voted at the Annual General Meeting to demand that the university “suspend all institutional partnerships with Israeli academic institutions and divest from and boycott all Israeli institutions until Israel ends its policies of military occupation and apartheid.”
- Athabasca University Faculty Association (AUFA) (May 2024)
- AUFA voted in support of reviewing, and then ending, cooperation with Israeli academic institutions, and divesting from companies doing business with the Israeli government.
- AUFA voted in support of reviewing, and then ending, cooperation with Israeli academic institutions, and divesting from companies doing business with the Israeli government.
- Ontario College of Art and Design Faculty Association (May 2024)
- OCADFA unanimously passed a motion in support of avoiding investments from companies “benefiting from military action in Palestine or elsewhere,” and calling on the university to “disclose investments and to cut ties with all RBC partnerships and the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design.”
- Association for Canadian Clinical Legal Education (ACCLE) (May 2024)
- The ACCLE passed a resolution supporting calls to divest from Israel and to end any partnerships or co-operation with Israeli academic and cultural institutions.
- Saint Mary’s University Faculty Association (May 2024)
- SMUFA issued a statement calling for the “divestment of the University’s investments, endowments, pension fund, purchases and other financial holdings from companies linked to genocide, human rights violations, occupation and apartheid in Israel.”
- McMaster University Faculty Association (MUFA) (June 2024)
- MUFA voted to push the university to divest “from companies linked to genocide, human rights violations, occupation, and apartheid in Israel,” to and review (to end) McMaster’s partnerships with “Israeli academic and cultural institutions complicit in apartheid.”
- Simon Fraser University Faculty Association (SFUFA) (June 2024)
- SFUFA adopted two motions in a faculty referendum calling for the university to “suspend all institutional partnerships with Israeli academic institutions and divest from Israeli commercial interests until such time that Israel ends its policies of military occupation and apartheid.”
- Trent University Faculty Association (TUFA) (June 2024)
- Trent faculty voted in a strong majority to call on both the union and the university to cut ties with all institutions and corporations complicit with Israeli human rights violations in Palestine.
- Memorial University Faculty Association (MUFA) (September 2024)
- MUFA voted to pressure the university to divest from the State of Israel and all Israeli and international companies that sustain Israeli apartheid, war crimes and occupation.
- Carleton University Academic Staff Association (CUASA) (October 2024)
- CUASA voted at their general membership meeting in support of divestment from “corporations directly enabling Israeli war crimes, breaches of international law, and human rights violations” in the OPT, and called on Carleton University to “suspend its involvement with Israeli academic institutions directly enabling Israeli war crimes.”
- York University Faculty Association (YUFA) (November 2024)
- YUFA voted at their general members meeting in support of divestment “from all companies and financial institutions contributing to the occupation of Palestinian territory and war,” and calling on the university to “end all cooperation with Israeli academic and cultural institutions contributing to the ongoing war and occupation.”’
Other Groups on Campuses
- Public Interest Research Group (PIRGs)
- Alberta Public Interest Research Group
- Simon Fraser Public Interest Research Group
- OPIRG – Carleton
- OPIRG – Guelph
- OPIRG – Peterborough
- OPIRG – Toronto
- OPIRG – Ottawa
- OPIRG – Waterloo
- OPIRG – Windsor
- Groupe de recherche d’intérêt public de l’UQAM (GRIP UQAM)
- Quebec Public Interest Research Group at Concordia (QPIRG Concordia)
- Quebec Public Interest Research Group at McGill (QPIRG McGill)
- Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR)
- Concordia University
- McGill University
- University of Ottawa
- University of Western Ontario
- Queen’s University
- McMaster University
- University of British Columbia
- University of Calgary
- Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), Ryerson University
- Students for Palestinian Rights (SFPR), Waterloo University
- Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA)
- Carleton University
- University of Toronto
- University of Toronto at Mississauga
- York University
- Palestinian Solidarity Group (PSG), University of Windsor
- General Union of Palestine Students (GUPS), OttawaUniversity
- Coalition pour la Justice en Palestine-UQAM
If you are aware of other BDS victories on campuses in Canada or additional information please email bdscoalition@gmail.com