Petition to the Law Society of Ontario: Waive the Filing Deadline!
CAEF Endorses Call to Law Society of Ontario to Waive Its Deadline for Filing a Motion and Consider the Motion to Remove Accreditation of Lincoln Alexander School of Law
We, the undersigned members of Ontario’s legal profession, call upon the Law Society of Ontario to waive its filing deadline and permit the enclosed motion to be heard at its Annual General Meeting on September 16, 2026. The LSO emailed the profession notice of the AGM only approximately 31 hours before the deadline for filing motions. More importantly, the Honourable Mary Lou Benotto’s report—the central evidence upon which the motion rests—was not released until August 14, 2026, seven days after the deadline had expired. It was therefore impossible to formulate and file this motion within the prescribed time.
Justice Benotto’s findings describe a pervasive and urgent problem of antisemitism at Toronto Metropolitan University. Jewish students, faculty and staff reported intimidation, dehumanization, harassment and fear, while the University failed to enforce its own rules consistently and decisively. We are repeatedly told that there is “no place for antisemitism” in our society. Those words are meaningless unless they are followed by timely and meaningful consequences. Future lawyers should not be educated in an institutional environment in which hatred is permitted to flourish and Jewish members of the community feel compelled to conceal their identities, withdraw from campus life or discourage other Jews from attending.
The Law Society has repeatedly declared that discrimination is incompatible with equal access to legal education and with the public interest. It must now live up to its own words. Its commitment to equality must protect all minorities, not merely those it chooses to protect in particular circumstances. Allowing the motion to be heard would not predetermine its merits or prejudge the rights of TMU, the Lincoln Alexander School of Law or its students. It would ensure that the profession can confront Justice Benotto’s findings now, rather than allowing a procedural deadline—which expired before the report even existed—to postpone accountability. We therefore ask the Treasurer and Secretary to exercise every available procedural authority to waive or extend the deadline, deem the motion properly filed and place it before the September 16, 2026 AGM.