By Vihaan Bhatnagar and Shumaila Mubarak

Current and former students at the Lincoln Alexander School of Law (LASL) at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) filed a lawsuit against the university for defamation on Friday.

The statement of claim alleges damages of up to $10 million on the basis of “defamation, negligent misrepresentation, breach of contract, discrimination, and unfair practices.”

This comes two years after the students faced backlash from the administration for participating in an open letter in October 2023 expressing their “unequivocal support” for Palestine.

The open letter—dated Oct. 20, 2023—condemned Israel’s occupation of Palestine and called Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7, 2023 a “direct result of Israel’s 75-year-long systemic campaign to eradicate Palestinians.” The letter also demanded a ceasefire, humanitarian aid to Gaza, a Canadian arms embargo on Israel and economic sanctions against Israel.

By Oct. 22, 2023, the letter and the students who signed it had started receiving “intense and widespread backlash,” according to the statement of claim. 

In October 2024, a United Nations (UN) commission said Israel has been illegally occupying Palestine under international law. The UN has since formally recognized that Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza since 2023. 

The LASL released a public statement on Oct. 23, 2023 where they condemned “the sentiments of antisemitism and intolerance expressed” in the letter. The statement has been taken down and is no longer available on the website.

Following the release of the open letter, a group of Jewish students at TMU sued the university for $15 million for allegedly fostering an antisemitic environment on campus, as previously reported by The Eyeopener.

TMU appointed retired chief justice of Nova Scotia, J. Michael MacDonald in November 2023 to conduct an external review of “any TMU student who participated in the open letter.” The review concluded in May 2024 that the signatories to the letter did not violate the Student Code of Conduct and the claims of antisemitism were not substantiated. 

“The students’ participation in the letter, when placed in its appropriate context, was nonetheless a valid exercise of student expression and therefore protected under the University’s Statement on Freedom of Speech,” MacDonald wrote in the external review.

The statement of claim alleges that the LASL response to the letter was defamatory and would “harm the Plaintiffs’ reputation in the eyes of a reasonable person.” 

The statement also alleges TMU’s conduct in the matter violated sections 1, 3, 9 and 11 of the Ontario Human Rights Code. It alleges “creation of a poisoned environment at LASL” and “a failure to adequately protect them against threats made by members of the public and legal profession.”

Several of the signatories say they lost career opportunities and suffered damage to personal relationships, according to the statement of claim.

This is a developing story and will be updated as more details become available.