A Muslim student group at the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) is calling on the Ontario Minister of Energy and Mines Stephen Lecce to apologize after he spoke out against a student commemoration on Oct. 7, and is threatening to take legal action if he doesn’t do so.
On Monday, Lecce reacted to a social media post shared by the UTM Muslim Student Association (UTM MSA), the Palestinian Youth Movement Toronto, Association of Palestinian Students at UTM, and the Students’ Union at UTM, which promoted a student gathering on Oct. 7, which marked two years since the Hamas-led attack on Israel.
In a post on X, Lecce slammed the gathering’s organizers, calling them a “hateful, antisemitic, and anti-democratic mob” and saying they should be banned from any college campuses.
“Honouring the very terrorists who murdered innocent civilians on Oct 7 — the two-year anniversary of the largest attack on Jews since the Holocaust — is twisted, offensive, and unCanadian,” he wrote.
“This hateful, antisemitic, and anti-democratic mob should be condemned and banned from any campus. This poisonous ideology is entirely incompatible with well-established Canadian values.”
The Oct. 7 attack, led by terrorist group Hamas, left around 1,200 dead and hundreds taken hostage, launched a devastating and controversial conflict between Israel and Palestine, which continues until today.
Israel responded to the attack by launching a military offensive in Gaza, and to date, more than 66,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to the UN.
The online post, with the words “Honouring our Martyrs,” promoted an event to honour the Palestinian victims of the conflict, with guest speakers and “moments of remembrance.”
“We remember the martyrs, we honour their legacy, and we continue the fight for a free Palestine,” the joint Instagram post said.
Now Toronto reached out to the UTM MSA for comment regarding Lecce’s remarks, and the group referred to its online statement which is demanding the minister to apologize for what it called “defamatory and completely false” remarks.
The student association says Lecce’s comments misrepresented the purpose of their “Honouring our Martyrs” gathering, contributing to Islamophobic rhetoric and lack of campus safety.
“To label an event rooted in remembrance and solidarity as violent rhetoric is to incite further hostility and Islamophobia. Calling for the banning of a Muslim student association under such assumption fosters hatred towards Muslims and contributes to an unsafe campus environment.”
The group also said it is currently consulting its legal counsel about his comments, saying if Lecce fails to apologize, they will look for “legal avenues” to hold him accountable and preserve their reputation.
“It is unacceptable for a public official to act in this manner and spread rhetoric that endangers and divides communities,” the association said.
“We demand that Minister Lecce publicly retract and apologize for his post to UTM students and the UTM MSA. Failing to do so will result in the UTM MSA exploring all legal avenues to defend our reputation and hold Minister Lecce accountable for his defamatory remarks.”
Now Toronto reached out to Lecce’s office for a comment, but has not yet received a response.
