Thursday, December 18, 2025
ADVT 
National

Eby deplores 'most hateful' speech praising Hamas attack, as UBC protest camp begins

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 29 Apr, 2024 03:21 PM
  • Eby deplores 'most hateful' speech praising Hamas attack, as UBC protest camp begins

Charlotte Kates of the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network told the rally outside the Vancouver Art Gallery on Friday that the attack was "heroic and brave." 

Eby said the comments about the attack, that killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were "the most hateful" he could imagine.

"Celebrating the murder, the rape of innocent people attending a music festival, it's awful," Eby said at an unrelated news conference on Monday. 

"It's reprehensible, and it shouldn't take place in British Columbia. There is clearly an element of some individuals using an international tragedy to promote hate that's completely unacceptable."

Kates and Samidoun did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Eby also remarked on an encampment by pro-Palestinian protesters that began at the University of B.C. on Monday. 

Similar camps have appeared on campuses across the United States, as well as at McGill University in Montreal and the University of Ottawa.

At McGill, activists have set up dozens of tents. The university said Monday morning it had seen video evidence of some protesters using "unequivocally antisemitic language and intimidating behaviour" during the protest.

The UBC camp included about 20 tents on MacInnes Field by noon Monday.

Eby said a university campus, while a protected space for free speech, should foster a safe space for students of all backgrounds, especially for Jewish students during a time they feel "particularly alone on campuses and need additional support to feel safe."

"I have no reason to doubt that the leadership, both student and administration, at UBC will find that balance between ensuring students are safe and making sure that atmosphere of free exchange of ideas can continue to take place on campus."

In a series of messages posted on social media platform X, UBC protest organizers have asked supporters to bring tents and sandbags, as well as food, water, first aid and generators.

Naisha Khan, a spokeswoman for the protest camp, said tents started going up at 5 a.m. Monday, with attendees from UBC, Simon Fraser University and Emily Carr University of Art and Design.

Khan said they wouldn't leave until UBC supported the Palestinian right to "resistance," and the right of return to what is now Israel.

In a written response, UBC spokesman Matthew Ramsey said the school is monitoring the situation and keeping in contact with the RCMP.

Protests must "be taken with respect for others and within the boundaries of university policy and the law," he said.

"We also remind everyone that hate and intolerance have no place at UBC," Ramsey said. "The university must be a place of reasoned debate where conflicting views can peacefully coexist."

Before Eby, the Vancouver Art Gallery rally had drawn condemnation from Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim, who called it a "celebration of terrorism and antisemitism."

Sim said in a post on X on Sunday that people who "spew this vile hatred" were not welcome in the city.

Liberal member for Vancouver Granville Taleeb Noormohamed said on X that "glorifying Oct. 7 is unacceptable" and "does nothing to promote peace," while B.C. Opposition Leader Kevin Falcon called the speech a "celebration of the heinous murder of Jews."

MORE National ARTICLES

Truck firm, Chohan Freight Forwarders Ltd, involved in multiple B.C. overpass strikes loses licence to operate

Truck firm, Chohan Freight Forwarders Ltd,  involved in multiple B.C. overpass strikes loses licence to operate
The British Columbia government has cancelled the operation licence of the trucking company involved in multiple highway overpass strikes since 2021. Transportation Minister Rob Fleming says in a statement that the province has sent a formal cancellation notice to Chohan Freight Forwarders Ltd. for the company's operations in B.C.  

Truck firm, Chohan Freight Forwarders Ltd, involved in multiple B.C. overpass strikes loses licence to operate

'I heard my mother's last screams': Canadian Sikh shooting survivor slams cops for 'inaction'

'I heard my mother's last screams': Canadian Sikh shooting survivor slams cops for 'inaction'
With 13 bullets pumped inside her body, the lone survivor of a shooting spree in Canada last year who watched her Sikh parents die in front of her, wants swift justice and says police didn't do their duty well. Jagtar Singh Sidhu and Harbhajan Kaur, both in their 50s, were shot more than 20 times just before midnight on November 20 at their rental property along the Caledon-Brampton border in Ontario province.  

'I heard my mother's last screams': Canadian Sikh shooting survivor slams cops for 'inaction'

2 deliberately hit by car in Abbotsford

2 deliberately hit by car in Abbotsford
Two youth in Abbotsford who said they were deliberately hit by a car were taken to hospital with minor injuries. Officers were called to a neighbourhood yesterday and found the teens who said the driver struck them after a disturbance.  

2 deliberately hit by car in Abbotsford

RCMP forms team to combat extortion

RCMP forms team to combat extortion
The RCMP says it has established a national team to help co-ordinate investigations and information sharing about extortion schemes targeting South Asian businesses in B.C., Alberta and Ontario. Mounties say the team is a "nationwide alliance" of police agencies that are all investigating extortion and violent threats, which have been tied to shootings and arson. 

RCMP forms team to combat extortion

Falcon says BC United's housing plan includes rent-to-own initiative, drops taxes Victoria

Falcon says BC United's housing plan includes rent-to-own initiative, drops taxes Victoria
British Columbia's Opposition Leader Kevin Falcon is pitching a housing plan that aims to get more first-time buyers into homes, and it comes just days after Premier David Eby promised to build more affordable rental units for the middle class. Falcon says the BC United's "Fix Housing" plan includes four initiatives to reduce the high cost of housing and increase supply, which he pledges to introduce if his party takes power in this fall's election.

Falcon says BC United's housing plan includes rent-to-own initiative, drops taxes Victoria

Inadequate security led to federal breach that compromised Canadians' info: watchdog

Inadequate security led to federal breach that compromised Canadians' info: watchdog
The federal privacy watchdog says government departments lacked adequate protections to prevent a cyberbreach that compromised the sensitive information of tens of thousands of Canadians. In a report tabled today, privacy commissioner Philippe Dufresne describes how the lapse at the Canada Revenue Agency and Employment and Social Development Canada in summer 2020 allowed hackers to fraudulently collect payments.

Inadequate security led to federal breach that compromised Canadians' info: watchdog