CUPE Ontario and Disinvestment from Israel

The record encompasses actions taken at several organizational levels rather than one continuous, binding policy. CUPE Ontario's 2006 resolution supported an international campaign of boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel.[1] In 2009, delegates from Ontario university locals adopted a non-binding measure focused on academic partnerships and research benefiting the Israeli military.[2] In 2021, the national CUPE membership rejected a BDS proposal sponsored by Ontario-based Local 1281.[4]

These distinctions separate general BDS advocacy, academic-boycott measures, positions adopted by individual locals, and national CUPE policy. The available sources do not establish that the 2009 academic measure amounted to the withdrawal of institutional financial investments.

At its convention at the end of May 2006, CUPE Ontario voted unanimously to support an international campaign of boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel until Israel recognized the Palestinians' "right to self-determination."[1] The Ontario branch at that time represented nearly half of CUPE's 450,000 members across Canada, with its membership drawn primarily from health care, education, social services, universities, and transportation.[5]

The resolution joined a broader international campaign spearheaded by the Jerusalem-based Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center, which had also attracted support from North American churches and 20 Quebec organizations.[5] A U.S. Department of State report later noted that the resolution repeatedly referred to "Israeli Apartheid," a contested and politically charged characterization.[1]

Israeli Ambassador to Canada Alan Baker criticized the action in an editorial in the National Post, writing: "Many — including members of CUPE — are questioning why CUPE is so unwisely injecting itself, its good name and the goodwill of its members in such a partisan and openly hostile manner into Middle East politics."[5] Jewish leaders condemned the strategy as antisemitic and argued that it failed to recognize Israel's right to defend itself against Palestinian terrorist attacks.[5] The State Department placed its account of the CUPE resolution within a broader discussion of what it called "new anti-Semitism" and set out analytical criteria that included denying Jewish self-determination and applying double standards to Israel.[1]

In January 2009, CUPE Ontario president Sid Ryan called for a boycott of Israeli academics unless they explicitly condemned Israeli military action in Gaza, following the bombing of the Islamic University of Gaza during the Gaza war.[3][8] The Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism's Inquiry Panel reported that Ryan's initial statement called for Israeli academics to be barred from teaching at Ontario universities unless they denounced both the university bombing and Israel's military campaign.[6] That statement was removed shortly after it appeared and replaced with language targeting academic institutions and the connections between Canadian and Israeli universities rather than individual scholars.[6]

On February 22, 2009, delegates at a conference of Ontario university locals adopted a non-binding resolution.[9] The resolution "encourages research into military connections between Ontario and Israeli universities, and calls on Ontario universities to refuse to conduct research that benefits the Israeli military."[2] It also proposed cutting institutional partnerships between Ontario and Israeli universities. The measure was forwarded to CUPE Ontario's annual convention for further debate but did not establish binding union-wide policy.[9]

CUPE National distanced itself from the measure. National president Paul Moist stated on February 24, 2009, that the national organization did not support the resolution and that it "does not represent CUPE National policy."[3] Some Ontario locals also indicated that they would not support the academic-boycott resolution.[2]

The Canadian Jewish Congress expressed "sadness and bitter disappointment" over the motion. CJC chief executive Bernie Farber called it "bigoted and anti-Israel" and said it diminished a once-proud union, while Ontario regional director Len Rudner argued that the vote did not represent the majority of Ontario university workers.[2] The parliamentary Inquiry Panel, drawing on a parallel UK inquiry, reported that academic boycotts could create particular difficulties for Jewish academics and students because most people institutionally affiliated with Israeli universities were Jewish. It endorsed the conclusion that calls to boycott contact with academics working in Israel constituted an assault on academic freedom and intellectual exchange.[6]

Judith Cohen, a York University music professor and member of CUPE Local 3903, submitted to the Inquiry Panel that her local devoted significant resources to protests against alleged Israeli "apartheid." She argued that applying that designation to Israel while not applying it to Muslim states with histories of religious repression appeared to be antisemitism presented as concern for human rights.[6]

By 2015, CUPE as a national organization had been described as having supported the BDS movement for nearly a decade, and the union had reportedly voted overwhelmingly several weeks earlier to renew its call for boycotts, divestment, and sanctions against Israel.[10]

At CUPE's 2021 biennial national convention, CUPE Local 1281 — an Ontario-based local representing workers in small nonprofit workplaces — sponsored Resolution No. 70. The proposal would have endorsed the BDS campaign and supported "the Palestinian people's right to self-determination and their demands to end Israel's military occupation and colonization."[4] The national membership rejected the resolution, with 68% voting against and 32% in favor.[4] After its defeat, CUPE Local 1281 stated that it was proud to have sponsored and organized the resolution and that it would "keep organizing for a free Palestine, with/without CUPE National."[4]

Ontario's provincial legislature also considered responses to BDS. In 2016, the proposed "Standing Up Against Anti-Semitism in Ontario Act," which would have prevented the province from conducting business with companies supporting BDS, was defeated by a vote of 39–18.[11] Six months later, the legislature passed a largely symbolic motion rejecting "the differential treatment of Israel, including the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement," by a vote of 49–5.[12]

The measures differed in their subjects and organizational status. The 2006 CUPE Ontario resolution supported a general international campaign of boycott, divestment, and sanctions.[1] The 2009 university-locals measure focused on academic partnerships and research with military applications rather than the withdrawal of institutional financial investments.[2] The 2021 resolution was a national CUPE proposal sponsored by an Ontario local, and it was rejected by the national membership.[4]

Individual affiliated locals have also maintained positions that do not necessarily constitute CUPE Ontario-wide or national policy. A report about CUPE Local 3903 at York University stated that the local supported BDS, accused Israel of genocide and apartheid, and denied the right of what it called the "Zionist entity" to exist.[13]

Taken together, the episodes demonstrate recurring disputes at different levels of CUPE rather than a single uniform policy. CUPE National disavowed the 2009 academic resolution as non-national policy.[3] In 2021, national delegates rejected formal BDS endorsement even as Local 1281 pledged to continue its activism.[4] Jewish organizations and the parliamentary Inquiry Panel criticized aspects of these campaigns as antisemitic, discriminatory, or damaging to academic freedom, while the cited CUPE bodies continued to present them as Palestinian-solidarity measures.[2][6]

In 2024, a new controversy involved CUPE Ontario's leadership. Fred Hahn, who simultaneously served as CUPE General Vice President and president of CUPE Ontario, shared a social-media video depicting an Olympic diver bearing a Star of David tattoo transforming into an exploding bomb.[7] Hahn deleted the video and said that he regretted the painful reaction it caused. He explained that he had intended to criticize what he viewed as a double standard in the treatment of Russia and Israel and said that he had not intended to associate Jewish people with violence committed by the State of Israel.[7]

CUPE's National Executive Board called for Hahn's resignation as General Vice President, stating that it had lost confidence in his ability to represent the national union in that role.[7] Hahn rejected the call to resign and denied the accusation that he was antisemitic.[14] The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs characterized Hahn as having a long record of antisemitic conduct disguised as opposition to Israel and stated that it had filed suit against him.[15] The cited report presented these statements as CIJA's allegations and did not identify an independent judicial finding resolving them.[15]