Update Five – We have now passed 1,900 signatories (and still counting). There have also been just under 300,000 views taken of the open letter. Several other professions have asked to utilize the letter as a model.
In today's update, I would like to first give recognition to 47 leaders of our profession in Ontario (in this instance, benchers and ex-officio/honorary benchers) who are signatories to this open letter – not as benchers or on behalf of the Law Society of Ontario, but in their personal capacities. Some of the following signatories have been referred to in earlier updates:
Jacqueline Horvat, Hon. Allan Rock, Hon. Lee Ferrier, Hon. Frank Marrocco, W.A. Derry Millar, Harvey Strosberg, Malcolm Mercer, Gavin MacKenzie, Thomas Conway, Teresa Donnelly, Larry Banack, Gary Gottlieb, Ross Murray, Julian Porter, Bradley Wright, Catherine Banning, Robert Adourian, Gerald Chan, Rebecca Durcan, Annamaria Enenajor, Heather Hansen, Pam Hrick, Howard Levitt, Atrisha Lewis, Will McDowell, Jonathan Rosenthal, Stephen Rotstein, Megan Shortreed, Mark Surchin, Sidney Troister, Margaret Waddell, Ryan Alford, Laura Emmett, Jennifer Gold, Karen Hulan, Jasminka Kalajdzic, Joelle Malette, Cathi Mietkiewcz, Kevin Ross, Quinn Ross, Stephanie Sutherland, Kathryn Whitehead, Matthew Wilson, Michael Winward, Demetra Dimokopoulos, Deborah Moriah, Michael Radan
Second, I wish to commend signatories Adam Allouba and Howard Gerson for their own respectful dialogue: see
https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/opinion-we-disagree-on-israel-gaza-but-today-we-speak-as-one
Third, here is some information on an important educational initiative at Dartmouth College, USA to ease tensions on campus which I am hoping can be replicated, in our own way, on campuses across Canada.
One Ivy League school took a unique approach to easing tensions sparked by the Gaza war
Fourth, some of us are working on building some partnerships and expertise that can later be utilized to create respectful dialogues about combatting hatred and about the difficult issues in the Middle East. Some of you have also been involved, at your own initiative or at my request, in mentoring students. I hope to invite wider participation in all this work in future updates.
In the meantime, thank you for your support.
Mark