Law Union of Ontario Statement on TMU Benotto Report/External Review

On August 14, 2026, retired justice Mary Lou Benotto released her external review report (the “Report”) after being hired by Toronto Metropolitan University (“TMU”) to investigate two incidents: a September 2025 incident in which a pro-Palestinian student protester was body slammed to the ground by TMU campus security, and a November 2025 incident in which students and non-student community members protested the hosting of an Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) soldier by an official TMU student group, Students Supporting Israel. 

This is the second time in three years that TMU has hired a former judge to investigate its students for pro-Palestinian speech, protest, and demonstration--the second time in three years that students have been threatened with sanctions for speaking up and protesting against Israel’s genocide in Gaza, ongoing 78-year-long settler colonial expansion, and military occupation of and apartheid against the Palestinian people. 

The Report’s conclusions have been the subject of concern by a variety of civil society groups across the political spectrum, from free expression organizations, to faculty and faculty networks, and activists. It is clear that this report has deeply missed the mark in a way that undermines long and hard-fought-for civil and political rights in an attempt to stifle the Palestinian cause for liberation. The Law Union of Ontario Steering Committee (the “LUO SC”) echoes these criticisms and is particularly concerned about the following conclusions and recommendations:

• That “discrimination against Jews manifests through opposition to Zionism”;

• That the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism be adopted by TMU--the adoption of which is a mechanism to suppress Palestine solidarity and advocacy;

• That TMU’s “Statement on Freedom of Speech” be revised to be more restrictive; and 

• That TMU undertake to more openly respond to and sanction “misconduct” and play a bigger role in “review” of "collective conduct” that “violates University standards”--a recommendation that, in the context of the Report overall, is a thinly-veiled call on the University to further crackdown on pro-Palestinian protest. 

The LUO SC also condemns the expressions of anti-Palestinian racism, Islamophobia, and misappropriation of the settler colonial analytic framework that is present throughout the Report. This is of particular concern in the context of Canada, another settler colonial country in which Indigenous peoples continue to face state and social violence and dispossession. 

As the Implementation Task Force deliberates on how TMU ought to put this Report into effect, the LUO SC urges an approach that centers civil liberties and human rights, and is rooted in an understanding that the Palestinian people have a right to live in their homeland; return to their homes; be free from military occupation, apartheid and settler colonial expansion; and a right to justice and reparations for the crimes of genocide, displacement, and dispossession.  

The global community’s work in solidarity with the Palestinian people cannot end at rejecting and criticizing the Report. Indeed, that is just a start. This Report is another attempt at cracking down on the student movement for Palestine and growing consciousness in civil society against Israeli apartheid, settler colonialism, and genocide. By painting student activists for Palestinian rights as violent, intolerant, and the root of the problem, the Report distracts from the material issues at hand: university and Canadian complicity in Israeli apartheid, settler colonialism, and genocide. 

For example, in 2024, TMU students obtained partial financial disclosure from the University through a FIPPA request and mediation. As a result of this months-long process, students received a list of all holdings managed by one of two of the University’s asset managers: Fiera Capital. The second manager whose investment funds remain undisclosed is OMERS. 

The investments managed by Fiera are supposed to be the University’s responsible investments. However, the partial disclosure of the Fiera investments alone revealed that one of the University’s major investments is in Oracle Corporation.

Oracle Corporation is a technology company that provides its cloud and AI platforms to the Israeli government and military. The IDF’s use of AI-powered drones throughout the genocide in Gaza has been raised by Palestinians in Gaza and international law and human rights groups as part of Israel’s strategy to deliberately kill and maim civilians, and dismantle civilian infrastructure. Moreover, the surveillance abilities powered by cloud and AI technologies are used by the occupation in the West Bank and Gaza to eliminate the freedom of movement of Palestinians, maintain tight colonial control of the land, and kidnap and detain Palestinians indefinitely in Israeli prisons.

If Oracle Corporation was revealed by the University’s “responsible investments” managed by Fiera, it begs the question: what remains undisclosed in the University’s remaining investments managed by OMERS, one of several pension funds reported to invest billions in companies tied to Israeli apartheid? 

Furthermore, while Canadian universities remain complicit in Israeli apartheid, occupation, and genocide through their investments, the Canadian government also continues to send millions worth in military goods to Israel. Though grand statements have been made about ending permits for military exports to Israel, more than $14 million in military goods still made their way to Israel from Canada in 2025. 

Once again, it must be emphasized that university, institutional, and Canadian complicity in genocide, apartheid, and colonialism is the core issue that cannot and must not be distracted from, no matter the analysis and conclusions of yet another report. 

For that reason, the LUO SC echoes the calls of the student movement for Palestine--one that has reverberated through history from the fight against Jim Crow and apartheid South Africa to today: “Disclose. Divest. We will not stop, we will not rest.” The LUO SC urges the University to make full disclosure and divestment from all companies tied to and profiting from Israeli apartheid, occupation, and genocide so that its commitment to responsible investing is more than just aspirational. The LUO SC also echoes the call of the Palestinian movement in broader civil society, urging the Canadian government to implement a two-way arms embargo to be in compliance with its obligations under international law.