MONTREAL — Pro-Palestinian demonstrators have set up camps on certain university campuses in Canada, including that of McGill University, following a wave of actions observed on American campuses.
Protesters are demanding an end to the war in Gaza, sparked by the Hamas attack in southern Israel on October 7, which killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians.
The calls come as Israeli retaliation against Hamas has killed more than 34,000 people, according to Gaza health authorities.
As the death toll mounts, some protesters have called on universities to divest any financial stakes in companies linked to the war effort, while others have gone further, calling on universities to cut ties with all companies related to Israel.
Here’s a look at some of the key questions around divestment requests.
What are the protesters demanding from McGill management?
There are a range of demands, but some call for the establishment to boycott and divest from companies “financing Israeli genocide and apartheid.” The protest camps echo calls made for months by some students, who have also carried out hunger strikes to assert their demands.
McGill said many activists in the encampments are not members of the student community. She said she also saw a video of certain people adopting “intimidating behavior and making blatantly anti-Semitic remarks.”
What types of businesses do they consider to fall into this category?
Groups called “McGill Hunger Strike for Palestine” and “Students for Justice in Palestine” have released a list of companies in which they want the university to sell its stakes. These include international arms manufacturers Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems, Thales SA and Safran SA, which they say either supplied Israeli forces or profited from the war.
The list also includes companies that they say provide other types of supplies such as communications equipment and fuel to the Israeli military, as well as companies that conduct operations in the occupied territories.
It also includes several large Canadian banks, targeted because of their apparent stakes in arms manufacturers.
Also included are Canadian grocers that sell Israeli products and companies that have expanded into the country or are considering doing so, including Shake Shack, Open Text and Johnson & Johnson.
What was McGill’s response?
McGill said in a statement that it does not invest directly in individual securities or companies and instead relies on fund managers to choose its investments.
To ensure that these investments are consistent with its principles of sustainability and social responsibility, the institution selects fund managers based on criteria such as reputation, risk and adherence to environmental, social and environmental principles. of governance.
The university also said two members of McGill’s leadership team met with a group of students who support Palestine on April 12. She says staff listened to students and informed the group that they could raise concerns about divestment through the institution’s established procedures.
She mentions that the committee responsible for examining these questions at McGill has not received any expression of concern on this subject so far.
How much financial significance is there?
Selling the arms makers’ stakes would largely be a symbolic move, as the university’s holdings are relatively small. McGill’s total endowment was approximately $2 billion at the end of 2023.
His disclosed investments include approximately $1.6 million in Safran, $1.3 million in Thales, $1.1 million in BAE Systems and $520,000 in Lockheed Martin.
Activists say they want McGill to sell about $73 million in stock when including all companies on the list, even though nearly a third of that total is made up of holdings in Canadian banks.
The university did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the divestment claims.
Is there any precedent for this type of divestment?
In the 1980s, universities, including McGill, sold stakes in companies that did business in South Africa during the apartheid era, in order to pressure the country’s government.
Most recently, in December, after years of student campaigning, McGill promised to divest from fossil fuels. The university says it will sell all its stakes in the world’s 100 largest public coal and oil and gas companies by 2025.
The move follows commitments by many other universities and investment funds to sell their oil and gas holdings to reduce funding for new projects and demonstrate opposition to the companies’ products.
Do funds ever specifically exclude weapons manufacturers?
There are also many funds that exclude investment categories such as gun manufacturers, as well as categories such as tobacco, gambling and pornography. McGill’s endowment has no specific filters, although it offers its donors a fund that excludes fossil fuels.
The endowment has $2.4 million invested in Desautels Capital Management, a university-owned and student-run investment company. All securities in the fund must be negatively screened for a range of sectors, including arms manufacturing.
These calls also come as a range of environmental, social and governance policies take on greater importance in investment. The university formalized ESG considerations in its investment process in 2020, a move it says sends a clear message about the importance of these factors.
In December, the university also committed to regularly reviewing its socially responsible investment initiatives. The next review is scheduled for 2029.
