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June 2024

CCAA changes to protect universities and colleges passes in House of Commons

On Tuesday, May 28, the House of Commons passed legislation to remove publicly funded post-secondary education institutions from the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act. The amendments to the CCAA will ensure that no public university or college can invoke corporate insolvency laws as Laurentian University inappropriately did in 2021.

With support from the Liberals, New Democrats and Bloc Québécois, the legislative changes now move on to the Senate to be passed into law, after years of collective advocacy by CAUT and its members. 

• Read CAUT’s statement on the CCAA changes to protect public post-secondary education 

CAUT released two statements defending the right to free expression and peaceful assembly on university and college campuses and calling on administrations to respect these rights.

• Statement on police actions against peaceful protesters on campus
• Statement on the right to freedom of expression and peaceful protest on campus

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Call on the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences to respect AMPL

The McGill University administration continues to refuse to engage in collective bargaining with the Association of McGill Professors of Law (AMPL). After more than 18 months of stalled negotiations and a strike now in its sixth week, McGill refuses to return to the bargaining table.

Wednesday, May 22, 2024 / Thompson House, Room 404, 9:30 a.m.: AMPL was ready to negotiate. Once again, McGill was a no-show.

CAUT encourages academic staff to call on the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences and its member associations to respect AMPL’s picket lines during its upcoming Congress and move activities off the McGill campus if the strike continues.  Join the call by:

• Writing to the Federation at contact@federationhss.ca and contacting your association
• Sharing a message on social media, tagging @AMPL_AMPD, @federation_hss, and @CAUT_ACPPU and using#Congress2024

On Thursday, May 23, CAUT activists from across the country took part in an AMPL Solidarity Phone Bank, where calls were made to key decision makers in the McGill administration.

On Wednesday, April 10, Ontario’s provincial government introduced an omnibus bill, which included unanticipated cuts to the Université de Hearst Board of Directors that would disproportionately reduce academic staff and student representation. 

In response to the proposed changes, the Association des professeur-e-s d’université de Hearst (APUH) launched a letter-writing campaign, urging amendments to Schedule 15 of Bill 185 to keep the level of representation of academic staff and students on the Hearst Board. 

As Ontario’s MPPs debate the bill for the last time before a final vote, more than 200 academic staff have written to the Ontario Minister of Colleges and Universities to demand collegial governance protection at Hearst University.

On May 16, CAUT provided a brief to the Standing Committee on Official Languages study on Federal Funding for Minority-Language Post-Secondary Institutions. In the submission, CAUT recommended increased funding for post-secondary education in minority settings through Heritage Canada’s Official Languages Program.

CAUT and more than 20 civil society groups signed a joint letter to Minister of Justice Arif Virani about the Online Harms Act (Bill C-63). The letter urges the separation of Parts Two and Three of the bill which would amend the Criminal Code and the Human Rights Act. Critics have warned that these changes could chill lawful expression. Bill C-63 would require internet companies to act against harmful online content.

Last year, CAUT called on the federal government to refuse any new extradition request of Canadian academic Hassan Diab after he received a life imprisonment sentence in absentia. 

Despite Canada’s extradition court finding the case against him weak, Diab was extradited to France in 2014 after his 2008 arrest in connection with a 1980 Paris synagogue bombing. He was released and returned to Canada in 2018 after a French court found exculpatory evidence in his case. 

• Sign a parliamentary petition calling for the Government of Canada to formally declare it will not agree to any second extradition of Hassan Diab. The petition is open until June 10 at 1:10 p.m. (EDT) 

The CAUT Bulletin invites submissions for print and online publication. Contributions should provide readers with analysis of the issues facing academic staff. Commentaries should be around 700 words long, while letters to the editor can be up to 300 words. Pitches for feature articles are also welcome. 

• Read our editorial guidelines for submission instructions and tips 

• Register now for the Aboriginal Academic Staff Conference, October 4-5 in Regina
• McGill’s anti-union stance puts Canada’s biggest academic conference in jeopardy
• Protect investigator-led research in Alberta: Stop Bill 18
• Manitoba’s Bill 10 will not achieve its goals, gives the government too much unilateral power

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