A protest organized by students in opposition to a conference hosted by the Infrastructure Resilience Research Group (IRRG) led to demonstrators being denied access to Richcraft Hall.
The conference focused on training legal and industry representatives on how to address threats to resource infrastructure, and was hosted at Carleton University by Felix Kwamena, an engineering professor, and Martin Rudner, distinguished research professor emeritus.
Speakers at the workshop included Alan Jones, the former assistant director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), and Dave Fox, director of corporate security at Irving Oil.
Protest organizers said the intention was to demonstrate that students did not welcome the discussion of applying criminal proceedings against those who protested pipeline and other resource development projects.
Ashley Courchene, CUSA vice-president (student services), was one of the individuals behind the protest. He said he is particularly worried that the event was held on campus, when the symposium itself targets indigenous communities who are currently opposing resource infrastructure developments.
“[Administration] is always so eager to talk about land acknowledgements and the work they do for indigenous communities, but then they host events like this. It’s a bit hypocritical so we wanted to show the organizers we’re watching them as well,” Courchene said.
Other student leaders took part in the event to display their disapproval. Samiha Rayeda, the outreach and programming co-ordinator at Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG), said she attended the protest to voice her concerns on the conference.
“To have an event on campus that analyzes the uses of Bill C-51 to criminalize protesters and indigenous land defenders is dangerous, especially when there are indigenous students on this campus whose land is being destroyed and where there are Muslim students who are being surveilled under this act,” Rayeda said.
The Charlatan reached out to the organizers of the conference for comment, but did not receive a response.
After the protest began, Campus Safety officers were called to Richcraft Hall. Allan Burns, the director of the department of university safety, said officers arrived to keep the peace, prevent injury or damage, and protect the rights of both parties involved.
Burns said demonstrators were removed from the premises after a fire alarm was triggered, and prevented access after Ottawa Fire Services had authorized re-entry.
“A pull station was activated and the alarm was intentional. Sounding a false fire alarm is a very serious offence,” Burns said.
According to Burns, the department is currently investigating the false alarm, and will be laying criminal charges according to policy.
Reports of abusive behaviour on the part of Campus Safety were reported by Courchene, including verbal harassment and the “carding” of someone who was protesting.
Burns said that no reports of abusive behaviour had been brought forward by anyone, including racial discrimination.
“We have never had a complaint of racial bias against one of our officers,” he said.
The symposium webpage has since been taken down, though an archived version of the workshop’s schedule was saved. The schedule does not mention indigenous peoples, but Courchene said he believes the event is tied to former protests such as Idle No More and the ongoing opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline.
A follow-up discussion was held by protest organizers on Nov. 22 to inform students on the IRRG, and what steps should be taken to hold Carleton administration accountable.
