NANAIMO — Pro-Palestine protesters at Vancouver Island University are urging the university not to waste money on a legal challenge to remove them from the Nanaimo campus and instead engage in dialogue.
VIU issued a trespass notice to the protesters on Thursday, telling them to vacate their encampment by Monday. If protesters are not gone by 8 a.m., the university said it would “take all legal steps necessary to remove them.”
The organizers of the camp, Palestinian Solidarity Encampment Nanaimo, said in an emailed statement Friday that they remained committed to “reaching a resolution” with VIU, but the university had decided not to “engage peacefully with students.”
They urged the university “to follow the example” of other institutions by using “dialogue and constructive solutions.”
“Rather than putting students at risk and spending unnecessary money on legal actions, we call on VIU to honour its values and previous promises to the community,” the statement said.
VIU said although it, too, was hopeful the situation could have been resolved through dialogue, it had “become evident that it is not realistic to continue to anticipate that the encampment can be resolved in this way.”
The university said it would start legal action seeking an injunction against the camp and damages from protesters if the camp isn’t dismantled by the deadline.
The move comes after a court in Ontario granted an injunction against a protest camp at the University of Toronto, leading to protesters leaving, which VIU noted in its statement.
It said the Nanaimo camp, which has been in place since May 1, posed “unprecedented challenges” and the university must prioritize the safety and peace for all people on campus.
A previous trespass notice was issued on May 2, the university said, adding that activity by protesters prevented it “from maintaining the inclusivity and safety we promise to uphold, where everyone can study or work in a secure and respectful environment.”
It said these actions have included occupations of university buildings and vandalism.
Organizers of the camp said they had “consistently maintained a peaceful and safe environment.”
The camp is among a number of such protest sites at universities in Canada and the United States.
A protest camp at the University of B.C. in Vancouver was vacated by protesters voluntarily last week.
The protesters against the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza have been demanding that universities cut financial and academic ties with Israeli firms and institutions.
