The University of Toronto Faculty Association (UTFA) has voted in favour of a motion urging the divestment of its pension fund from companies linked to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory, The New Arab reported on May 14th.
The group formally submitted the decision to the leadership of the Ontario University Pension Plan (UPP) after securing 52% in votes for the motion on May 8th.
The motion calls on the UPP to withdraw investments from entities “that manufacture or distribute arms, ammunition, implements or munitions of war,” where it is reasonable to believe they may be used by Israeli forces in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. It also targets companies involved in activities that “support or sustain Israel’s illegal occupation.”
In a statement released May 12th, UTFA confirmed that it had conveyed the motion to the UPP’s Chief Executive Officer and Board Chair, and shared the motion with the Canadian Association of University Teachers and the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations.
The motion will also be shared with the university administration and other employee groups participating in the pension plan. The UPP is a pension plan covering staff and faculty at the University of Toronto, Queen’s University, the University of Guelph, and Trent University.
The motion also includes a broader call for divestment from companies complicit in any illegal occupation, citing earlier actions taken against Russian entities.
The initiative was backed by the University of Toronto Faculty and Librarians for UPP Divestment campaign, which argues that pension funds, described as “deferred wages”, should not be invested in companies involved in human rights breaches.
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME), an advocacy group that supports the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, welcomed the vote, describing it as a “historic divestment motion.”
“The UTFA is the 20th faculty or academic association to endorse boycotting or divesting from Israeli war crimes in Palestine over the last two years. BDS works!” the group said in a statement.
The vote comes amid a wave of similar divestment campaigns across university campuses globally, many of them in response to Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza. The University of York and Trinity College Dublin also declared plans to sever financial relations with Israeli firms following student protests.
Harvard Law School students passed a referendum in March which called on Harvard to divest from Israel. However, according to Middle East Eye on April 22nd the US health agency, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), said that it will withdraw medical research financial aid from universities with any boycott of Israeli companies.
BDS also launched a new Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the Don’t Buy Apartheid campaign, which asks consumers to boycott businesses connected to Israel’s reportedly apartheid regime, The New Arab reported on March 24th.
The New Arab, Middle East Eye
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