Court proceedings seeking to overturn the suspension of a Vancouver Island University student over her pro-Palestinian activities on campus have progressed, with two groups obtaining intervenor status.
Justice Jennifer Whatley approved the intervention applications for the B.C. Civil Liberties Association and the B.C. Federation of Students in Sara Kishawi’s petition to B.C. Supreme Court on Monday.
The case could set a legal precedent for students sanctioned or punished for political activity by B.C. universities.
Kishawi graduated with a bachelor’s degree from VIU in 2024 and was then retroactively suspended for two years by VIU for activities that included protesting in a campus office building and accessing a building rooftop.
The Palestinian-Canadian student often acted as a spokesperson for a 110-day encampment at VIU’s Nanaimo campus last year.
The VIU encampment was a part of a wave of protests in the spring of 2024 across North American campuses in response to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and was the last encampment to be dismantled at a Canadian university.
Participants demanded that universities cut financial and academic ties with firms and institutions linked to Israel.
Lawyer Noah Ross, who is representing Kishawi, said the petition is expected to be heard over a two-day process in a Nanaimo court in late September or early October.
Vibert Jack, litigation director at B.C. Civil Liberties Association, said the organization has decided to focus efforts on this case as Kishawi’s suspension is part of a “broader, troubling” wave of unreasonable actions from governments and institutions towards people protesting or speaking out on Palestinian issues.
“We see people losing their jobs. We’ve seen politicians even being censured,” Jack said.
Jack said Kishawi’s case could also help define what Charter rights students have on B.C. university grounds, which have yet to be fully defined in the province.
Cole Reinbold, secretary-treasurer at B.C. Federation of Students said the federation applied to intervene because it wants the courts to affirm student charter rights on campus, and for there to be “clear and equal precedent” for post-secondary institutions on how they can deal with student protests.
“This is about precedent, and not politics,” Reinbold said.
“Whatever the issue is at hand [in Kishawi’s case], the decision here will shape students’ right for freedom of expression and freedom of assembly across B.C.”
“Charter rights belong on campus,” she said. “Freedom of expression and freedom of assembly doesn’t stop once you’re on campus property, and students must be able to speak, organize and gather peacefully at colleges and universities.”
The BCCLA and the B.C. Federation of Students were two of seven outside parties granted intervenor status in that civil suit that VIU launched against encampment organizers in July 2024, of which Kishawi is a named defendant.
Jack said he does not expect that case, in which VIU successfully sought a limited injunction against the protest encampment last year, to continue.
The suit, which was filed while the encampment was still ongoing, sought damages against protestors.
Kishawi’s petition, submitted in May, argues that VIU’s process was unfair, the suspension was unreasonably punitive, and may have infringed her Charter rights.
VIU intends to deny those allegations in court.
A 25-page response submitted in July from lawyers representing VIU said the two-year suspension was not disproportionate, but was instead “lenient and proportional.”
“She finished her courses, graduated, and received her degree … the suspension was given delayed effect to reduce its impact on Ms. Kishawi,” said the response submitted by Michael Larson and Alison Colpitts of Vancouver-based law firm Clark Wilson LLP. “Her transcript does not show any indication of a suspension.”
The response also argues that VIU is a private entity which can choose to suspend or expel students as they wish, and that the actions for which Kishawi was suspended happened on private property in which Charter rights don’t apply.
It also asked the court to resolve the petition without involving Charter rights. “Courts should exercise judicial restraint in making unnecessary findings in constitutional matters,” it said.
The university stands by its decision to suspend Kishawi, but had no further comment due to privacy reasons and the fact that the matter is now before the courts.
