Thursday, July 9, 2026
ADVT 
National

Pro-Palestinian protesters dismantle UBC camp

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 08 Jul, 2024 05:10 PM
  • Pro-Palestinian protesters dismantle UBC camp

A pro-Palestinian protest camp that had occupied a sports field at the University of British Columbia's Vancouver campus for more than two months has been dismantled by the demonstrators.

Dozens of tents had been removed by Monday, although barricades and fencing around the site remain in place.

A statement from UBC says "protesters decamped from MacInnes Field" adjacent to the school's transit loop and student union building on Sunday, but did not elaborate. 

A spokeswoman for the protest camp confirmed in a text message that it had closed.

A UBC security guard at MacInnes Field who declined to be named said the protesters vacated the site without giving any notice on Sunday evening.

Guards were patrolling the area Monday to prevent unauthorized people from entering the field while they waited for cleanup crews to arrive.

On Friday, more than 35 tents and a small handful of people were visible at the site that had been occupied since late April by protesters demanding that UBC end any financial or academic ties with Israeli companies or institutions.

A spokeswoman for Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo, B.C., said it had no update on a protest camp there. The University of Victoria did not respond to requests for updates on an encampment at its campus.

The low-key closure of the UBC camp came after another protest site at the University of Toronto was vacated last week. That came after a judge ruled in favour of an injunction sought by the school to clear the camp.

Ontario Superior Court Justice Markus Koehnen ruled the encampment took away the school’s ability to control what happened on its properties. The result, Koehnen said, amounted to irreparable harm.

"In our society, we have decided that the owner of property generally gets to decide what happens on the property," Koehnen’s decision said.

University of Ottawa professor Michael Geist had said the Ontario decision could act as a road map for other schools looking to remove protest camps. He said its reliance on property law meant schools could issue trespass notices to protesters before starting the legal process of clearing them out.

Protesters at several Canadian schools including UBC issued a joint statement on social media last week calling the Ontario decision "shameful" for prioritizing property ownership over students' rights.

The statement said protesters would "continue to act on our campuses and apply pressure to our universities through every possible avenue."

The UBC camp once included about 75 tents and was bustling with music and activity, but at one point on Friday only three people could be seen inside the fenced zone.

Vancouver Island University had said in a statement last week after the Ontario court decision that it was "exploring similar legal avenues taken by other institutions."

The school said about 25 protesters occupied a school building in late June and disrupted an exam, while another building was vandalized over the Canada Day long weekend.

Vancouver Island University said its settlement proposal to the protesters had been rejected, and the escalation of disruptions on campus shows "encampment participants are unwilling to engage in good-faith dialogue."

MORE National ARTICLES

Navinder Gill enters guilty plea to second degree murder

Navinder Gill enters guilty plea to second degree murder
Homicide investigators say now 40-year-old Navinder Gill is now waiting for a date to be set for his sentencing hearing. Police say 40-year-old Harpreet Kaur Gill was found stabbed on the evening of Dec. 7, 2022, and died of her injuries after being taken to hospital.

Navinder Gill enters guilty plea to second degree murder

NDP clean sweep in both by-elections

NDP clean sweep in both by-elections
Community activist Joan Phillip won Vancouver-Mount Pleasant for the N-D-P with almost 68 per cent of the vote.  N-D-P candidate Ravi Parmar won Langford-Juan de Fuca with 53 per cent of the vote

NDP clean sweep in both by-elections

Surrey weekend car crash kills 2 people

Surrey weekend car crash kills 2 people
Surrey R-C-M-P say the crash happened early Sunday, when a Volkswagen collided with a Hyundai sedan while both were northbound on 176 Street near 32 Avenue. Police say the crash sent both cars into a water-filled ditch beside the road, and two people in the Hyundai have died while two others from the same vehicle are injured, one critically.

Surrey weekend car crash kills 2 people

Targeted shooting in Burnaby leaves 1 injured

Targeted shooting in Burnaby leaves 1 injured
The incident is believed to have occurred inside a parked vehicle near Halifax Street and Woodway Place in Burnaby around 2 p.m. No victims, suspects, or related vehicles were on scene when police arrived. However, the victim, a 20-year-old-man, was treated in hospital for non-life-threatening gunshot wounds after seeking medical care.

Targeted shooting in Burnaby leaves 1 injured

2 bystanders being praised for quick action in preventing stabbing

2 bystanders being praised for quick action in preventing stabbing
Mounties are praising two bystanders in Kelowna who jumped into action and disarmed a man who allegedly stabbed a woman at a bus station. Mounties say two "good samaritans" were physically detaining the suspect when an officer arrived to arrest the man.  

2 bystanders being praised for quick action in preventing stabbing

Vancouver needs a 9% annual property tax hike to maintain its fiscal outlook

Vancouver needs a 9% annual property tax hike to maintain its fiscal outlook
The report says the outlook for operating expenditures is driven by factors, including higher fixed costs to provide existing service levels, the renewal of infrastructure and public amenities, Metro Vancouver levies, and the implementation of key initiatives from the 2023 budget, such as the hiring of additional police officers.'

Vancouver needs a 9% annual property tax hike to maintain its fiscal outlook