University of Toronto (Governing Council) v. Doe et al., 2024 ONSC 3755

What this document is

These are the reasons of Justice Markus Koehnen of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on the University of Toronto’s application for an injunction requiring the removal of the encampment on King’s College Circle. The court file is CV-24-00720977; the reasons carry the date line 20240702 and the words “Released: July 2, 2024” S024.

What it establishes

The injunction was granted. At paragraph 220 the court found that the university had demonstrated a strong prima facie case in trespass and ejectment, and made no order as to costs at paragraph 221 S024. The order is narrow in terms: it prevents camping, the erection of structures blocking entry to university property, and protest between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. S024.

The Charter reasoning is frequently misdescribed, including on pages that say the court held the Charter inapplicable. What the reasons say is more careful. At paragraph 113 the court declined to address whether the Charter applied, because no notice of constitutional question under section 109 of the Courts of Justice Act had been served S024. At paragraph 114 it treated the question as largely beside the point, since both sides accepted that the court must apply the law consistently with Charter values in any event S024. The Charter analysis was placed in Appendix A as an alternative that made no difference to the outcome; in that alternative the court concluded the Charter did not apply, and in the further alternative that any breach would be justified under section 1 S024.

The reasons also record findings that cut against the university’s harshest critics and against its harshest defenders alike. At paragraph 109 the court was shown no evidence that the named respondents or occupants used slogans or symbols intending violence, antisemitism or hatred, and at paragraph 7 it described the encampment itself as peaceful apart from the initial seizure and the continuing exclusion of others S024.

Key passages

Paragraph 113: “I therefore decline to address the applicability of the Charter” S024. Paragraph 220: “exercising freedom of expression is not a defence to trespass” S024. Paragraph 7: “the encampment itself is peaceful” S024.

How it is used on this site

The decision is cited on the 2024 University of Toronto encampment, Does the University of Toronto support BDS? and Is BDS legal in Canada?, and in the glossary, key facts and timeline.

Provenance and access

The reasons are published on CanLII, which refuses automated requests and challenges automated browsers, so the text was read from the Internet Archive snapshot above and checked against the full reasons hosted by the University of Toronto Faculty Association, which are identical. The Ontario Superior Court does not host a separate public copy. The deadline for clearing the encampment, 6 p.m. on 3 July 2024, appears in the formal order, not in the reasons; the best public record of it is the university president’s statement of 2 July 2024, which says participants “must leave Front Campus and clear their belongings by 6:00 PM” S218.

Page history

2026-09-21: First draft.