On the anniversary of the 1948 Nakba (the catastrophe), the Toronto Metropolitan University Faculty Union (TFA) has voted overwhelmingly to support a joint motion to recognize and address anti-Palestinian racism in solidarity with the people of Palestine, as well as the students, faculty and staff at the university.

We write as the Jewish Faculty Network, an organization made up of over 200 faculty members and librarians at universities and colleges across Canada, deeply troubled by a recent Toronto District School Board (TDSB) decision to receive the report “Affirming Jewish Identity and Addressing Anti-Semitism Strategy” on February 13, 2025.

The abduction and attempted deportation of Mahmoud Khalil, coupled with ongoing threats to university funding and crackdowns on activists, academics, and the imprisonment and attempted deportation of those without U.S. citizenship, has stirred collective horror and rage among members of the Jewish Faculty Network, whose membership includes more than 200 faculty members at universities across Canada.

This brief is respectfully submitted on behalf of concerned Canadian scholars and researchers in response to a proposal put forward to this Committee that constitutes outside interference in the governance of scholarly research and threatens academic freedom and integrity.

CAUT opposes the adoption of or reliance on the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism and the Canadian Handbook on the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism as a basis for defining what constitutes antisemitism or for otherwise suppressing speech deemed as controversial, troubling, or offensive in Canadian universities.