Students commemorate victims of the ongoing genocide in Gaza
Hosted by the UTMSU and MSA, the event brought together dozens of students and drew both praise and ire from across Ontario.
On October 7, the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) Students’ Union (UTMSU), in conjunction with the Muslim Students’ Association (MSA), hosted its first Honouring Our Martyrs commemoration for the victims of the ongoing genocide in Gaza, Palestine.
From 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., students, staff, faculty, and guest speakers joined in front of the Student Centre amid a light rain for the commemoration on the two-year mark of genocide. The crowd was a patchwork of black and white as many participants wore kuffiyehs, a traditional Palestinian scarf with embroidery that symbolises perseverance, connection, and the trade routes of Palestine.
The event included land acknowledgments, a moment of silence for Palestine, and speeches covering themes of grieving, reconciliation, privilege, solidarity, and resistance. Speeches came from UTMSU President Andrew Park, UTMSU Vice President University Affairs Manaal Fatima, members of the MSA, a member of the Association of Palestinian Students, Sabrina Dahab from the Canadian Public Affairs Council, a member of Mississauga-Streetsville for Palestine, and Justice for All Canada Executive Director Taha Ghayyur.
Dahab’s speech was momentarily disrupted by a member of the public who shouted “boo” and “blame Hamas.” Attendees nevertheless remained focused on respecting the speaker, who continued unmoved.
Prior to the event, the UTMSU shared a code of conduct which asked participants to respect the rights and opinions of others, not to engage in arguments, and to follow lawful and reasonable instructions from law enforcement officers.
The union also shared an opportunity for a private listening session provided by the Jewish Faculty Network, “for UTM students who wish to share their thoughts and feelings about the UTMSU’s October 7th Honouring our Martyrs ceremony.”
A few hours before the event began, Park shared with The Medium via email that the goal and importance of the event is to “create a safe and respectful space for students, staff, faculty, and community members to mourn the countless lives lost for the past two years in the genocide.” He added, “we are honouring the people who’ve been killed simply for existing – students, doctors, children, and families – people who never should’ve had to die.”
A moment of recognition
October 7, 2025 marks two years since Hamas, a Palestinian resistance group, invaded the southern area of Israel bordering Gaza, taking about 250 individuals hostage and killing about 1200.
The UTMSU acknowledged that the date of the event is deeply painful for both Palestinians and Israelis, especially following an attack on a synagogue in Manchester on October 2. BBC News reported that the attack claimed the lives of two Jewish men and injured others.
In an October 7 statement about the attack, the students’ union reaffirmed their “commitments to supporting all students and community members affected by violence, trauma, and oppression, regardless of faith, identity, or background.”
Since October 7, 2023, over 186,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF), according to a report published in The Lancet. Palestinians have suffered forced starvation, carpet bombing, white phosphorus attacks, and countless forced displacements, according to international news outlets.
Other news outlets and non-governmental organisations reported that in Gaza more than 100 mosques and 195 heritage sites have been destroyed or damaged, as well as 97 per cent of schools and 92 per cent of housing units destroyed or damaged. With no safe place to return, an estimated 1.5 million people in Gaza are forced to live in tents and makeshift shelters.
Public response
Throughout the week of the commemoration, provincial Minister of Energy and Mines Stephen Lecce, Hillel Ontario, and members of the public criticised the event and its organisers.
Minister Lecce remarked on X that the event was “twisted, offensive, and unCanadian.” He also called the event organisers a “hateful, antisemitic, and anti-democratic mob” which “should be banned from any campus.”
The MSA condemned Lecce’s remarks via Instagram post the following day. “We want to be clear to Minister Lecce: we are in consultation with legal counsel on this matter and will take necessary steps to defend ourselves against the defamatory allegations,” the statement read. The statement concluded with demands for Lecce to “publicly retract and apologize for his post.”
On October 6, Hillel Ontario also spoke out against Honouring Our Martyrs, posting on Instagram, “this initiative is a clear celebration of the terrorists” and that “the university must have a voice in condemning this shameful program.” They also indicated in the post that Hillel representatives would be present at the commemoration to “ensure that any violations of university policy are documented and reported.”
Hillel Ontario later posted a video of a separate commemoration in the William G. Davis Building which was hosted by Jewish students around the same time as the gathering at the Student Centre. The video showed a line of special constables standing between the mourners and a crowd of students, which the video’s caption described as “an angry mob.”
Some students expressed safety concerns about attending Honouring Our Martyrs. The UTMSU’s posts continued to gain negative attention, with claims of “students praising terrorist attacks” and remarks like “embarrassing” and “disgusting” flooding comment sections.
Conversely, Professor Kate Maddalena of the Institute of Communication, Culture, Information and Technology expressed in an interview with The Medium that, after attending the event, “I am very glad that students found their voices and feel able to gather, grieve, and speak.” She said it was an improvement from two years ago, when “it felt like students couldn’t even ask questions or have conversations about what was happening in Palestine.”
One student, who chose to remain anonymous, saw the event as “an opportunity to express your emotions, ideals, and what you think is right and also try to educate other people about what you know to be true. I think that’s always going to be a good thing.” By joining together, they said, “students get to experience being involved in something bigger than just yourself.”
Yusuf Ksaibati, a second-year digital enterprise management specialist and owner of SoftSpot 4VIP, joined the event with his own custom handmade Handala hanging rug filled in with the colours of the Palestinian flag featuring a kuffiyeh and engraved olive branches. The Handala cartoon is a symbol of Palestinian identity and defiance, created by Naji al-Ali in 1969.
“This isn’t a cultural, race or religious thing. Right now it’s Palestinians, when the Palestinians are gone, who’s next?” Ksaibati commented. “This is a human thing, humans need to show up for humans.”
After the event, the UTMSU posted a statement about their commemoration, insisting their “stance is rooted in principles of anti-war, anti-apartheid, anti-capitalism, anti-imperialism, and anti-racism,” standing firm on their “collective duty to speak out against injustice and stand with those who are oppressed.”
