Peter L. Biro, University of Toronto

"[Massey College wanted a needless [advisory committee to vet [an antisemitism conference] ."

"A good portion of Canadian society is utterly oblivious to the fact that our current age represents the next great transmutation of Jew-hatred in human history."

"That only underscores the critical importance of this conference." 

"[Everything for the conference production was developed in] full cooperation with and the full contemporaneous knowledge of the Principal, beginning in mid-January and continuing through to May 27."

"[The Massey College president's concerns are] absolutely false."

"[Massey's concern is] one of substance rather than one of process [from] undisclosed senior members of the College about whether the subject of antisemitism is being curated in an appropriate fashion, [and] about whether the salient issues are being framed in a politically and socially appropriate way." 

University of Toronto Law Professor Peter Biro 

 

"When Massey was first approached by Mr. Biro with his written draft conference proposal on antisemitism, after some conversation, I agreed to hold a programmed conference on antisemitism. I welcomed the initiative and told Mr. Biro that Massey would engage in a process of consultation about the proposed conference."

"[We -- he and Biro -- had] two meetings on the proposed conference [during which he] particularly emphasized the centrality of consultation and collaboration in defining the agenda and speakers, and my responsibility as Principal to seek appropriate advice, and that I would do this."

"Unfortunately, Mr. Biro did not check back on the process of consultation. I had begun that process of consultation with colleagues, when I was informed by email that all Mr. Biro's proposed speakers had been invited, that the Prime Minister of Canada had been invited, and that a partnership with another organization had been established."

"Much of the necessary collaborative process was ignored. In a subsequent phone call with Mr. Biro, he informed me that the agenda was fixed, that he was moving the conference to another venue, and that he was resigning from the College."

Massey College principal James Orbinski  

Peter Biro quits Massey College over conference vetting dispute  MSN

 

 A respected and highly esteemed professor at University of Toronto, in view of an unprecedented tsunami of viral antisemitism that has swept through Canadian academia, along with Canadian society at large, thought the time was right and appropriate to launch a conference on the subject to view and analyze the phenomenon that was roiling the social order in Canada and producing a hostile atmosphere for Jewish Canadians, in an attempt to make sense of what is happening. To that end, the professor invited speakers whose comprehensive insider knowledge of the subject would help in the search for a solution to the untenable situation. 

 

Yet the one-day conference titled Antisemitism in Our 'Free and Democratic Society': A Canary's Song, scheduled to take place at Massey College on September 15, as was discussed on a number of occasions between Professor Biro and the College principal, James Orbinski, must first undergo a close scrutiny to ensure that Massey College, linked with the University of Toronto, but separate from it, not be taken off guard by the conference content, its presenter, and invited speakers, intended to closely investigate all those involved, along with their purpose. Mr. Orbinski also took exception to the fact that the conference would be held in conjunction with and under the auspices of, another group.

 

Specifically taking umbrage that arrangements were made with the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights as co-host. Canada's former special envoy on Holocaust remembrance and combatting antisemitism, Deborah Lyons was to be the feature speaker In addition to which the Raoul Wallenberg Centre's founder Irwin Cotler, a renowned human rights activist, and former Justice Minister and Canadian Attorney-General, alongside American Holocaust historian and diplomat Deborah Lipstadt. Altogether a cast of accredited speakers of great international repute. 

 

That the College principal felt it a requirement that this conference, its agenda, and its roster of speakers required vetting, to ensure that the reputation of Massey College remained safely intact from criticism is beyond belief. Surely, the spectre of Critical Race Theory, DEI and wokeism are alive and well at Massey. This ideological trifecta that spurns the social, legal and historical equality of Jews, preferring to regard them as 'colonialist Imperialists' guilty of crimes against humanity past and present, must have spurred Principal Orbinski to action, in the opinion that he had the right and an obligation to verify the appropriateness of the conference, its agenda and its speakers.

 

This is what Canadian universities have descended to; declined from their purpose as institutions of higher learning no longer valid, but venues for ideological totalitarianism which celebrates the rights of Indigenous peoples everywhere to rise against their oppressors. Israel, in this context, seen as a genocidal oppressor, though it sits on ancestral Judean land and has been under attack by its neighbours from its very re-dedication in 1948 to the present, while representing the very epitome of indigeneity.  

"Our academic institutions and government are willing to address antisemitism only insofar as the discussion sanitizes the connection between Judaism and the land of Israel."

Chemistry Professor Dvira Segal, University of Toronto

 

"[This is] an important story of what appears to be an attempt by leadership at Massey College to censor a major conference on antisemitism."

Michael Geist, University of Ottawa law professor 

Life on campus at the University of Toronto has materially changed in recent years, in particular following the Hamas atrocities in southern Israel that took place on October 7, 2023, wryly observed Professor Biro. "Israel vilification has become the currency, cornerstone and language of much of what transpires in the social sciences", said Professor Biro, adjunct professor of law at University of Toronto.