With over 2500 signatories on the petition for fossil fuel divestment, over 160 professors and nearly 400 alumni signing letters of support, endorsements from several student groups and unions, and overwhelming majorities in favour of divestment from every formal McGill body that has voted on the question –from student associations to departments to entire faculties–, it is clear that Divest McGill has tremendous support from almost every part of the university. Yet we still have to ask ourselves: when will the McGill administration start supporting the community? They tell us that they are listening, but that means very little until they begin aligning their actions with their empty claims.

After years of engagement with administration, campaigning, and creating a space for the sometimes difficult dialogue on the issue of climate justice across campus, we, as members of Divest McGill, would have hoped that the Board would at least bring divestment to the table for a vote. However, in March of this year, the Board’s Committee to Advise on Matters of Social Responsibility (CAMSR) instead circumvented the entire question of divestment by claiming that fossil fuel corporations do not cause “grave injurious impact,” and thus no remedial action is warranted.

They claimed incorrectly that climate change is not “grave” enough to merit action until we have hit 2°C of global warming, even though the U.N. recognizes that concerted action must be taken now to aim for 1.5°C of warming, if we want to avoid devastating impacts such as the complete submersion of the Pacific Islands and coastal areas. The University has also completely ignored every point regarding the rights of communities and Indigenous peoples, that was covered in the over 150 page research brief on social injury that we submitted to the Board.

This result shows that the Board is not only ignoring community calls for divestment, but also basic scientific consensus and common knowledge on the serious negative impacts of fossil fuel extraction and climate change that we are already seeing across the world. It shows us that our Board of Governors endorses environmental destruction and the violation of human rights to the point where they feel justified in continuing to invest over $70 million of our university’s money into companies perpetrating these very crimes, even while their lack of fiscal and social responsibility has lost the university over $43 million since Divest began campaigning.

Last week, during Fossil Free Week, Divest McGill hosted a variety of events aiming to propel and aggregate conversations around the issues of climate change and divestment. Several events were specifically based around social injury, with frontline activists and Indigenous land defenders addressing the ways in which they are currently experiencing social injury as a result of the activities of fossil fuel companies.

Fossil Free Week was a set of events that resonate with our aspirations for our prestigious university. Positive change is constantly driven by students at McGill, because we want to be part of an institution that is helping to create the future we want to live in. We aren’t afraid of identifying McGill’s failings. That’s why Divest McGill has continued to persevere in reaching out to the administration and pushing them to stand up for justice.

During our sit-in at Principal Fortier’s office in the spring, the administration bafflingly refused to make a statement affirming that fossil fuels do indeed cause social injury. However, they did commit to holding open forums regarding climate action and ethical investing at McGill. Although this commitment is a small step in the right direction, words are not enough to counter the global ecological and social threats that we are collectively facing.

The three forums empowered the community to speak out and share their personal experiences and thoughts about sustainability at McGill. Despite the broad scope of the forums, it was encouraging and energizing to see nearly every speaker expressing their passion for divestment as a central and necessary part of any legitimate climate action plan. While certain administrators, including Principal Fortier and Board Chairperson Stuart Cobbett, have tried to shift the responsibility for climate change onto individuals in order to absolve McGill of moral culpability, many community members spoke out about the need to go beyond individual actions in addressing the climate crisis. As a respected international institution, McGill has a great deal of power and leverage, which it could use to catalyze positive changes that we cannot accomplish alone.

Another common theme of the forums was the rejection of CAMSR’s verdict that fossil fuel companies do not cause grave social injury. Students spoke out about how intimidation, coercion, and projects of pipeline and fossil fuel companies are directly affecting their livelihoods, communities, and the land. They stated that if McGill truly seeks to strive for reconciliation, it must cease its investment in this destructive industry. Professors spoke about the millions of lives already lost to climate change, and staff addressed the role of the CAMSR decision in deepening the lack of trust in the McGill Board and administration.
For these forums to have been worth anything, the few McGill administrators who were present should have not only been actively listening to the initiatives being brought forward by the community, but must now follow through with active support for them. We cannot afford to continue with business as usual in the face of the climate crisis. Community members will continue to come together to have our voices heard and to take action for climate justice at McGill and beyond.

Ultimately, building a school that we can be proud of will require us to come together to craft solutions and to push for more accountability from the people who are supposed to govern this institution. Whatever results from these forums, one thing is certain: Divest won’t rest. Join us.

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October 29 marked the 1,000th day since we at Divest McGill submitted our initial petition to you. Many people have invested a lot of work, time, and energy into our divestment campaign, and I’m used to Divest McGill’s typical letter-drafting process of discussion, collective drafting and editing, and approval by consensus. Today, however, I am writing to you only my own behalf, and sharing my own personal experiences.

I still remember the day when I walked into the small boardroom on the third floor of the James Administration building with some of my newfound friends to present the case for divestment for the very first time – some of you were there, and you might have noticed that 19-year-old me was slightly terrified. But you put me at ease; you were friendly and seemed happy to engage with students, and I came out of that brief presentation feeling optimistic, thinking that perhaps a small but motivated group of students really could help McGill make the important decision to align its investments with its values. I thought that perhaps the process would be swift, since full divestment was the only logical response. Sometimes I am still surprised that the right decision was not made the first time around.

Since then, your committee – affectionately known as CAMSR – has had a surprisingly enduring presence in my life, through our correspondence, your terms of reference consultations, and of course our many meetings. I even spent my 22nd birthday with you last month! And so it is in the context of this long and complicated relationship that I reflect on the Divest McGill campaign before I graduate.

About two years ago, I joked to my mother that I couldn’t graduate until McGill divested.

Ours was the very first fossil fuel divestment campaign in Canada, launching this call for climate leadership and climate justice even before the worldwide campaign began. I am astounded with every new campaign and every new victory that I see; when Divest McGill began, I could never have imagined that only a few years later there would be more than 800 campaigns across the globe, and that 470 institutions worth more than $2.6 trillion dollars would have already committed to divestment. But whenever I see another victory, my excitement is bittersweet, tinged with a streak of deep disappointment. Because it reminds me that although the students at McGill have continued to lead the divestment movement, our own institution, McGill University, still has not acted in the interests of the campus and the global community.

The reason that I became an activist is because I have compassion – for the planet, for people (especially those on the front lines of climate change and resource exploitation), and for all life on earth. And I’ve come to realize that when confronted with suffering, we must respond actively, because passivity, inaction, and delay equate to complicity. We must ask ourselves: how can we avoid aggravating the problem, help to alleviate it, and demonstrate our material support for those who are already addressing the problem? What power do we have, individually and collectively, to bring about social and environmental justice? I ask myself that regularly, and I invite you to do the same.

In attempting to answer those questions throughout my time at McGill, I have invested incredible effort into contributing to the campus community – from spending several hours a week organizing for divestment and climate justice, to educating students on green living and larger environmental issues, to facilitating community spaces and conversations about how McGill can be more sustainable. And I have seen so many others working very hard to do the same; indeed, these individuals have become some of my very best friends, and I have come to consider this community to be my family. When I graduate, I hope to continue my involvement in the wonderful and growing sustainability community in which I have had the privilege to participate here.

You have all of the information, you certainly have the support, and you have taken more than enough time; now all that is needed is courage.

About two years ago, I joked to my mother that I couldn’t graduate until McGill divested – back then, I was sure we would have divested well before 2016. But now I know that even if I were to leave, the campaign would remain stronger than ever, because there are so many incredible individuals doing this work, and more are joining us every day. And with the launch of our alumni campaign, I would be proud to join the growing ranks of the 200 alumni calling on McGill to do the right thing. It is especially exciting to know that the vast majority of these individuals have pledged not to donate until they know that their money will not be invested in fossil fuels, and as I write this forty alumni have declared that they will publicly return their diplomas if McGill does not divest. Given my devotion to the McGill community, perhaps it seems odd for me to want to support this sort of action, but it is precisely this devotion that compels me to do so. After 1,000 days of failure to act from McGill, this sort of tough love is necessary. I promise to continue doing everything I can to ensure that McGill’s investments come to reflect the good that I know my university is capable of, and I know that many others will as well. But we cannot do it without you.

I understand that we might not see the world, or the dire problem of climate change, in exactly the same way. However, I am certain that we all care deeply about this university and want McGill to positively influence the world around it. There are so many ways to do this, and divestment is only one of them – but it is undoubtedly a crucial and effective step. You have all of the information, you certainly have the support, and you have taken more than enough time; now all that is needed is courage. I urge you to join us – please know that there are thousands of community members who are ready to stand with you if you choose to support full fossil fuel divestment. And from my experience, they are a loving, powerful, and wonderful group of individuals that I would always choose to have on my side.

Kristen Perry is a U4 Environment student and a Divest McGill organizer. This letter is an edited version of one sent to members of the McGill Board of Governors.

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