Private Law Theory

ABSTRACT
This article comments on the Ontario Superior Court’s decision granting an injunction to evict a pro-Palestinian encampment from the University of Toronto campus. Prior to the ruling, some commentators attempted to interpose the Charter into the encampment disputes, contending that it applied to universities and suggesting it would alter the outcome of a trespass claim by the University. Responding to these contentions, the article advances two claims consonant with the Ontario court’s conclusions. First, the Charter does not impinge on the University’s right to exclude trespassers. Neither a private landowner’s reliance on trespass legislation nor the Ontario government’s campus free speech directive triggers the application of the Charter. Second, even if the Charter applies, the eviction of a (semi-)permanent encampment from a public space is a reasonable limitation of the protesters’ expressive freedoms. There is little reason to think that the Charter should countenance the unilateral privatisation of public spaces.

Sun, Kerry, Trespass, Campus Encampments, and the Charter (July 17, 2024), Journal of Parliamentary and Political Law, 2024, volume 18, issue 3, 795-814 (forthcoming).