An outstanding Canadian legal association apologizes after canceling a main speech of the Syrian Canadian businessman and the Maintenance of the Peace Maintenance Tareq Hadhad, which caused strong criticisms of many of its members.
Last Friday, CBC News was the first to report that the Defensores Society rescinded an invitation for Hadhad, founder of Peace By Chocolate, to pronounce an opening speech, saying that some members expressed concerns about their position on the Israel War in Gaza.
Now, the organization says that it is recognizing the “deep reactions” around its decision.
“Our members have expressed deep concerns with the way our decisions were made, the basis for them and with the lack of diverse consultations in our deliberations,” he said in a statement on Friday.
“We listen to you. We regret and regret the damage we have caused,” he said, adding “through these decisions and related communications that we have not lived up to our fundamental mission and values.”
CBC News has asked the defenders’ society if you now plan to reverse your decision and are waiting for an answer.
The statement occurs after a wave of lawyers resigned from the legal organization, including the high -profile criminal lawyer Marie Henein, who served as TAS president from 2010 to 2011.
The litigant Danielle Robitaille also confirmed that he canceled his membership and an upcoming commitment to talk about the move.
“Personally, it is very difficult for me to align myself with a defenders organization that cancels the speakers because we can disagree with them,” Robitaille wrote in a publication on social networks this week.
“I keep committing to leadership and membership in the TAS to see if there is a path to follow for the organization. Meanwhile, I am out.”
The employment and human rights lawyer, Arleen Huggins, also canceled her membership. “Instead of participating in the dialogue, there are those who, in Trumpian way, want to cancel and quell free thought and speech, and want to use associations such as the society of defenders to do so,” Huggins wrote in a letter to Tas.
As CBC News reported last week, TAS, which says on its website that it was “established to guarantee the presence of a brave and independent bar”, he rescinded Hadhad’s invitation at his next end of the end of the period in Toronto after some members had raised concerns about their “public positions in the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.”
The message did not point to any specific publication made by Hadhad or elaborated what is expressing concerns.
The Canadian Association of Muslim Lawyers (CMLA) He told CBC News previously That when he pressed the organization for details, it was said that the concerns arose from the complaints about the use of Hadhad of the term “genocide” on social networks, and added that they had not provided what they considered “the same comment” on other impacted groups.
Tas would not confirm those details in CBC News.
The lawyer marked the “unilateral view” of the war in Gaza
The lawyer Jonathan Lisus was one of those who wrote to the organization to mark what he described as the “unilateral vision” of Hadhad’s conflict, noting that Hadhad did not seem to have published in solidarity with the Israeli victims of the October 7 attack of Hamas or the hostages taken that day.
“Appreciation and advocate for the distinction between the criticisms of good faith of Israel and its policies on the one hand and the bad will towards the Jewish people on the other,” he said in a letter dated March 15.
“Unfortunately, the registration of Mr. Hadhad of public statements presents a strong case that, although it expresses a concern understandable by civil deaths in Gaza, it is unfriendly and certainly indifferent, due to damage and suffering of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.”
On October 19, 2023, in the midst of Israeli air attacks in Gaza after Hamas attacks days before, Hadhad wrote in X, asking that humanitarian aid is allowed in the enclave and for an end of the fighting.
“Our Canadian government not only needs to call, but to press the immediate fire and save the lives of civilians. All human lives have the same weight and peace must prevail,” Hadhad wrote.
In another publication X on October 30, 2023, he wrote in part: “A child in Gaza is being killed every 15 minutes … how many are enough? The murder stops. The war stops.”
On May 27, 2024, Hadhad wrote in reference to Gaza’s children: “This genocide must be stopped. Children must wake up with the sound of birds, not the sound of the pumps.”
Almost a month after Israel imposed a complete block for the goods that enter Gaza, families fasting for the sacred month of Ramadan say that finding food has been a fight in the midst of supplies decreasing and high prices.
“If lawyers do not fight for freedom of expression, who will do it?”
From the decision, Fallout has continued, with numerous lawyers and defense groups, including the National Network of GC (NGCN) and the Association of Lawyers of South Asia in Canada, asking the organization to reversed the course.
“By canceling Mr. Hadhad’s key note, TAS has abandoned his principle of giving voice to all, reflecting a worrying lack of respect for the freedom of its members to have different ideological perspectives. This decision has alleged many members and is simply incorrect,” NGCN said in his letter, dated March 31.
On Thursday, 40 law professors throughout the country also issued a letter that contains a similar message.
“In a nutshell, the will to defend the pro-palestine expression has become the Canarian of the coal mine of the ability of an organization to effectively promote diverse perspectives and, ultimately, to act as a significant force for democratic values,” said the letter of lawyers.
“It is disturbing to see that, in the face of this test, the society of the defenders has failed deeply, and decided that the path of less resistance was to allow a veto on any speaker whose perspective can get the members of their comfort zone.”
In his letter, the Association of Lawyers of South Asia said: “Diversity and inclusion are not just words, they require action and commitment. In recent years, TAS has pledged vocally to these ideals and fostered them. This decision sends that commitment upside down.”
And while Tas alluded to the members who raise concerns about Hadhad’s position on the war in Gaza, lawyer Kathryn Marshall talked about the decision on social networks on Tuesday, saying that he was talking “like a lawyer who is a firm defender of Israel and will fight until the end for my clients, many of whom are victims of antemitism.”
“It is very disturbing for me to see lawyers who claim to be litigants of the best shelves dedicated to canceled culture,” Marshall wrote.
“If lawyers do not fight for freedom of expression, who will do it?”
