A prominent Canadian legal association is apologizing after it cancelled a keynote speech by Syrian Canadian entrepreneur and peacekeeping advocate Tareq Hadhad, prompting sharp criticism from many of its members.
Last Friday, CBC News was first to report that The Advocates’ Society rescinded an invitation for Hadhad, founder of Peace by Chocolate, to deliver a keynote speech, saying some members expressed concerns about his position on Israel’s war in Gaza.
Now, the organization says it’s acknowledging the “profound reactions” surrounding its decision.
“Our members have expressed deep concerns with the way our decisions were made, the basis for them and with the lack of diverse consultation in our deliberations,” it said in a statement Friday.
“We hear you. We are sorry and regret the harm we have caused,” it said, adding “through these decisions and related communications we have not fully lived up to our mission and core values.”
CBC News has asked The Advocates’ Society if it now plans to reverse its decision and is awaiting a response.
The statement comes after a wave of lawyers resigned from the legal organization including high profile criminal lawyer Marie Henein, who served as president of TAS from 2010 to 2011.
Litigator Danielle Robitaille also confirmed she cancelled her membership and an upcoming speaking engagement over the move.
“Personally, it is very difficult for me to align myself with an advocates’ organization that cancels speakers because we may disagree with them,” Robitaille wrote in a social media post this week.
“I continue to engage with leadership and membership at the TAS to see if there is a path forward for the organization. In the meantime, I am out.”
Employment and human rights lawyer Arleen Huggins cancelled her membership as well. “Rather than engaging in dialogue, there are those who, in the Trumpian manner, want to cancel and stifle free thought and speech, and wish to use associations such as the Advocates’ Society to do so,” wrote Huggins in a letter to TAS.
As CBC News reported last week, TAS, which says on its website that it was “established to ensure the presence of a courageous and independent bar,” rescinded Hadhad’s speaking invitation at its upcoming end-of-term dinner in Toronto after it said some members had raised concerns about his “public posts on the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.”
The message did not point to any specific posts made by Hadhad or elaborate on what about them raised concerns.
The Canadian Muslim Lawyers Association (CMLA) previously told CBC News that when it pressed the organization for specifics, it was told the concerns stemmed from complaints about Hadhad’s use of the term “genocide” on social media, adding he had not provided what they deemed “equal comment” on other impacted groups.
TAS would not confirm those details to CBC News.
Lawyer Jonathan Lisus was among those who wrote to the organization to flag what he described as Hadhad’s “one-sided view” of the conflict, noting Hadhad did not appear to have posted in solidarity with the Israeli victims of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack or the hostages taken that day.
“I appreciate and advocate for the distinction between bona fide criticism of Israel and its policies on one hand and ill will towards the Jewish people on the other,” he said in a letter dated March 15.
“Sadly, Mr. Hadhad’s record of public statements makes a strong case that while expressing understandable concern for civilian deaths in Gaza he is unsympathetic, and certainly indifferent, to the harm and suffering of Jewish people and the Jewish state.”
On Oct. 19, 2023, amid Israeli air raids in Gaza following the attacks by Hamas days earlier, Hadhad wrote on X, calling for humanitarian aid to be allowed into the enclave and for an end of the fighting.
“Our Canadian government needs to not only call, but to pressure for an immediate ceasefire and save civilians’ lives. All human lives have equal weight and peace should prevail,” Hadhad wrote.
In another X post on Oct. 30, 2023, he wrote in part: “A child in Gaza is being killed every 15 minutes … How many are enough? Stop the killing. Stop the war.”
On May 27, 2024, Hadhad wrote in reference to the children of Gaza: “This genocide must be stopped. Children should wake up to the sound of birds, not the sound of bombs.”
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Since the decision, fallout has continued, with numerous lawyers and advocacy groups, including the National GC Network (NGCN) and the South Asian Bar Association of Canada, calling on the organization to reverse course.
“In cancelling Mr. Hadhad’s keynote, TAS has abandoned its principle of giving a voice to all, reflecting a troubling lack of respect for the freedom of its members to hold diverse ideological perspectives. This decision has alienated many members and is plain wrong,” NGCN said in its letter, dated March 31.
On Thursday, 40 law professors from across the country also issued a letter containing a similar message.
“Put simply, the willingness to defend pro-Palestinian expression has become the canary in the coalmine for an organization’s ability to effectively foster diverse perspectives, and ultimately, to act as a meaningful force for democratic values,” the lawyers’ letter said.
“It is disturbing to see that, faced with this test, the Advocates’ Society has profoundly failed, and decided that the path of least resistance was to allow a veto over any speaker whose perspective may push members out of their comfort zone.”
In its letter, the South Asian Bar Association said: “Diversity and inclusion are not just words, they require action and commitment. In recent years, TAS has vocally committed to these ideals and fostered them. This decision sends that commitment stumbling backwards.”
And while TAS alluded to members raising concerns over Hadhad’s stance on the war in Gaza, lawyer Kathryn Marshall spoke out over the decision on social media Tuesday, saying she was speaking “as a lawyer who is a staunch supporter of Israel and will fight to the end for my clients, many of whom are victims of anti-Semitism.”
“It is highly disturbing to me to see lawyers who claim to be top shelf litigators engaging in cancel culture,” Marshall wrote.
“If lawyers are not fighting for freedom of speech then who the hell will?”
