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<div style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> <b style="color:
inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;
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style="font-size: 16pt; color: rgb(134, 17, 6);
font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">YUFA Exec rejects
government attack on academic freedom, democratic debate</span></b><br>
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<p class="x_MsoNormal"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Arial, Helvetica,
sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;
background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255);">Dear colleagues, </span></p>
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<p class="x_MsoNormal"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Arial, Helvetica,
sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;
background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255);">The YUFA Executive
Committee voted to endorse the
following statement in an
emergency vote that took place
from October 25 to 26,
2020. The statement, which has
been endorsed by a number of
Ontario faculty associations,
encourages individuals and
faculty associations to
contact the provincial
government with their views
on how
establishing the International
Holocaust Remembrance Alliance
(IHRA) working definition of
anti-Semitism as law might
affect academic freedom in the
province.</span></p>
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<div><br>
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<p class="x_MsoNormal"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Arial, Helvetica,
sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;
background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255);">Nearly 2,500
people have already sent
emails to Members of
Provincial Parliament about
the matter, calling on them to
reject the IHRA definition or,
at least, to drop its harmful
"illustrative examples."</span></p>
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<p class="x_MsoNormal"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Arial, Helvetica,
sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;
background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255);">Despite the
widespread public interest in
this issue, the IHRA
definition was quietly
approved by an </span><span
style="font-family: Arial,
Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(0,
0, 0); background-color:
rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a
href="https://www.ontario.ca/orders-in-council/oc-14502020"
target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">Order
in Council</a> </span><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Arial, Helvetica,
sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;
background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255);">on Monday, October
26, 2020--abruptly ending any
further discussion or debate.
Astonishingly, the move came
just as Bill 168--a Private
Member’s Bill to adopt the
working definition--was about
to be reviewed by the Standing
Committee on Justice Policy.
The deadline to submit a
request to participate in
public hearings before this
Standing
Committee was Monday, October
26, 2020, and the deadline to
submit written
material was Friday, October
30, 2020.</span></p>
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<p class="x_MsoNormal"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Arial, Helvetica,
sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;
background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255);">The government has
over-ridden its own judicial
process.</span></p>
<p class="x_MsoNormal"><span
style="color:black"><br>
</span></p>
<p class="x_MsoNormal"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Arial, Helvetica,
sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;
background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255);">On October 28,
2020, the Ontario
Confederation of University
Faculty Associations (OCUFA)
issued this statement: "</span><span
style="color:black"><span
style="font-family: Arial,
Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 10pt; color:
rgb(0, 0, 0);
background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255);"><a
href="https://ocufa.on.ca/press-releases/ocufa-opposes-ontario-government-circumventing-democracy-and-public-debate-on-bill-168/"
target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">OCUFA
opposes Ontario government
circumventing democracy
and public debate on
Bill 168</a></span></span><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Arial, Helvetica,
sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;
background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255);">."</span></p>
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<p class="x_MsoNormal"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Arial, Helvetica,
sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;
background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255);">The statement that
the YUFA Executive Committee
endorsed following its
emergency vote is below: </span></p>
</div>
<div><br>
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<p class="x_MsoNormal"><b><span
style="font-size: 16pt;
color: rgb(134, 17, 6);
font-family: Arial,
Helvetica, sans-serif;
background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255);">Appeal to
Ontario faculty associations
regarding threat to academic
freedom</span></b></p>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>
<p class="x_MsoNormal"><font
face="arial, sans-serif"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Arial,
Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 10pt;
background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255);">Dear Executive
Committee members, </span></font></p>
</div>
<div><font face="arial, sans-serif"><br>
</font></div>
<div>
<p class="x_MsoNormal"><font
face="arial, sans-serif"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Arial,
Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 10pt;
background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255);">We are writing
to you as concerned
academics who fear the
prospect of an Ontario
Provincial Bill 168
“Combating Antisemitism
Act.” It passed second
reading in the Legislative
Assembly of Ontario on
February 27, 2020 and </span><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Arial,
Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 10pt;
background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255);"><strong>the
Standing Committee on
Justice is accepting
public hearings </strong></span><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Arial,
Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 10pt;
background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255);"><em><b>this week</b></em></span><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Arial,
Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 10pt;
background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255);"><strong>, in
anticipation of what we
believe is a move to pass
the bill to the third
reading quickly and
quietly.</strong></span></font></p>
</div>
<div><font face="arial, sans-serif"><br>
</font></div>
<div>
<p class="x_MsoNormal"><font
face="arial, sans-serif"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Arial,
Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 10pt;
background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255);">Bill 168 seeks
to re-define the province’s
definition of antisemitism,
guided by the working
definition of antisemitism
and the list of illustrative
examples of it, adopted by
the International Holocaust
Remembrance Alliance (IHRA).
</span><span style="color:
rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family:
Arial, Helvetica,
sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;
background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255);">This new
definition is the product of
a growing movement that
seeks to redefine
antisemitism to include any
criticism of the Israeli
state.</span></font></p>
</div>
<div><font face="arial, sans-serif"><br>
</font></div>
<div>
<p class="x_MsoNormal"><font
face="arial, sans-serif"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Arial,
Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 10pt;
background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255);">Coinciding with
this apparently small piece
of legislation, President
Trump has threatened to
withhold funding from
Amnesty International and
Human Rights Watch on the
grounds that they are
antisemitic organizations,
and two Ontario universities
have been the site of false
and destructive charges of
antisemitism against
respected international
human rights scholars.</span></font></p>
</div>
<div><font face="arial, sans-serif"><br>
</font></div>
<div>
<p class="x_MsoNormal"><font
face="arial, sans-serif"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Arial,
Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 10pt;
background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255);">These attacks
are deeply troubling for us
as scholars and teachers.
The potential adoption of
IHRA in Ontario is a direct
attack on </span><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Arial,
Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 10pt;
background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255);"><em>academic
freedom</em></span><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Arial,
Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 10pt;
background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255);">, raising issues
of our freedom to conduct
critical scholarship and
teaching that contains facts
and perspectives critical of
a foreign state. If passed,
it will place even more
Ontario academics at risk of
being falsely accused of
being antisemitic, resulting
in intimidation, censorship,
job precarity, and costly
litigation.</span></font></p>
</div>
<div><font face="arial, sans-serif"><br>
</font></div>
<div>
<p class="x_MsoNormal"><font
face="arial, sans-serif"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Arial,
Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 10pt;
background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255);">Where it comes
to higher education, the
Ford government is
dramatically out of touch
with the views of most
Canadians. No Ontario
University has adopted the
IHRA. According to a poll
released earlier this
month, </span><span
style="font-family: Arial,
Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 10pt; color:
rgb(0, 0, 0);
background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255);"><a
href="https://www.cjpme.org/survey2020_r3"
target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">80%
of Canadians do not
believe that criticisms of
Israel are anti-Semitic</a></span><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Arial,
Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 10pt;
background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255);">. The government
has shown themselves willing
to back down on reactionary
legislation when it meets
with robust public
opposition. With robust
intervention in defense of
academic freedom and the
necessary autonomy of
university governance, we
can prevent this
neo-McCarthyist legislation
from being enacted.</span></font></p>
</div>
<div><font face="arial, sans-serif"><br>
</font></div>
<div>
<p class="x_MsoNormal"><font
face="arial, sans-serif"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Arial,
Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 10pt;
background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255);">When a
provincial government aims
to set the terms for what is
legal and admissible in
university research and
teaching, we are confronted
with </span><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Arial,
Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 10pt;
background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255);"><em>governmental
over-reach</em></span><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Arial,
Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 10pt;
background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255);">. Modern
universities have been
defined and governed as </span><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Arial,
Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 10pt;
background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255);"><em>autonomous
institutions</em></span><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Arial,
Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 10pt;
background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255);"> of learning for
a reason. Expectations of
institutional autonomy and
collegial governance, like
that of </span><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Arial,
Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 10pt;
background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255);"><em>academic
freedom</em></span><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Arial,
Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 10pt;
background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255);">, protect
universities from
governments or private
interests wishing to set the
limits of what can be
researched and what can be
taught. Human rights
research is as vulnerable to
such intrusion as research
in pharmaceuticals, energy,
white collar crime, foreign
relations, or any other
potentially contentious
research subjects.</span></font></p>
</div>
<div><font face="arial, sans-serif"><br>
</font></div>
<div>
<p class="x_MsoNormal"><font
face="arial, sans-serif"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Arial,
Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 10pt;
background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255);">Our faculty
associations are mandated
and entitled to protect
their members’ rights to
pursue their research and
research dissemination free
of such intrusion.</span></font></p>
</div>
<div><font face="arial, sans-serif"><br>
</font></div>
<div>
<p class="x_MsoNormal"><font
face="arial, sans-serif"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Arial,
Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 10pt;
background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255);">We strongly urge
your Executive Committee
to pass a motion this week
condemning Bill 168 on the
grounds of </span><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Arial,
Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 10pt;
background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255);"><em>academic
freedom.</em></span></font></p>
</div>
<div><font face="arial, sans-serif"><br>
</font></div>
<div>
<p class="x_MsoNormal"><font
face="arial, sans-serif"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Arial,
Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 10pt;
background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255);">Sincerely, </span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="x_MsoNormal"><font
face="arial, sans-serif"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Arial,
Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 10pt;
background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255);">The Ad Hoc Group
of Ontario Scholars
Concerned About Academic
Freedom</span></font></p>
</div>
<div> </div>
<div>
<p class="x_MsoNormal"><font
face="arial, sans-serif"><br>
</font></p>
</div>
<div>
<div> </div>
<div>
<p class="x_MsoNormal"><font
face="arial, sans-serif"><span
style="font-family: Arial,
Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 10pt; color:
rgb(0, 0, 0);
background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255);">Read this post
</span><span
style="font-family: Arial,
Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 10pt; color:
rgb(0, 0, 0);
background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255);"><a
href="https://www.yufa.ca/yufa-exec-rejects-government-attack-on-academic-freedom-democratic-debate/"
target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">online</a></span><span
style="font-family: Arial,
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font-size: 10pt; color:
rgb(0, 0, 0);
background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255);">.</span></font></p>
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<div>
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<p class="x_MsoNormal"><span
style="font-family: Arial,
Helvetica, sans-serif;
color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-size: 10pt;
background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255);">-- </span></p>
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<div>
<p class="x_MsoNormal"><b><span
style="font-size: 16pt;
font-family: Arial,
Helvetica, sans-serif;
color: rgb(134, 17, 6);
background-color:
rgb(255, 255, 255);"
lang="EN-GB">York
University Faculty
Association</span></b></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="x_MsoNormal"><span
style="font-family: Arial,
Helvetica, sans-serif;
color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-size: 10pt;
background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255);" lang="EN-GB">YUFA is
the professional
association and certified
bargaining agent for
approximately 1,500
faculty, librarians and
archivists, and
post-doctoral visitors at
York University.</span></p>
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style="font-family: Arial,
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style="font-family: Arial,
Helvetica, sans-serif;
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font-size: 10pt;
background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255);">t. </span><span
style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif; color:black"><span
style="font-family:
Arial, Helvetica,
sans-serif; font-size:
10pt; color: rgb(0, 0,
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href="tel:416-736-5236" target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">416-736-5236</a> </span></span><span
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255, 255);"> | </span><span
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Arial, Helvetica,
sans-serif; font-size:
10pt; color: rgb(0, 0,
0); background-color:
rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a
href="mailto:yufa@yorku.ca" target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">Email</a> </span></span><span
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moz-do-not-send="true">Facebook</a> </span></span><span
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