On Monday May 15, Deborah Lyons, the former Canadian ambassador in Tel Aviv, received an honorary degree from Mount Allison University. She was met with a protest outside, and students inside the convocation who stood up and turned their backs on her during her receiving of the award and her acceptance speech. Good on your Mount Allison!
Students turned their backs and held signs while Lyons spoke, and some students walked out.
Lyons seemed very uncomfortable, accusing those students and faculty who protested her receiving the award as ruining convocation for the students. She said that even if people oppose here they should have talked to understand her perspective, because we live in a democracy and that is how the language of diplomacy operated. She spoke about her hopes that many students will become journalists and seek to shine a light on truth in this age of misinformation.
Outside faculty, students and community held a protest, and provided information to those going into the convocation.
In the last couple days before the event, about 1K letters were sent to Mount Allision University administration. Thanks to all who took time to write. In addition about 1300 people signed a petition.
Read more:
On January 16, 2020, Ambassador Lyons held a pizza party for Canadians in the IDF. An access request reveals this was very much Lyon’s innovation, seeing it as a “feel good story” and hoping to get maximum coverage. The Ambassador wanted to event “to augment the excellent support they receive from the IDF” and to let them know that they “are not really ‘lone’ soldiers since they have us.” That they should not be loney, as “we are their family.” Indication was that 78 Canadians were “serving” in the IDF but only 33 could attend as the others were in the “Golan, Eilat and the Gaza border.” Of course, none of these locations are more than a few hours drive from Tel Aviv, although the access request left one feeling these were remote areas.
The access request referred several times to these Canadians being here to “fulfill their military service.” It referenced that it is hard to be away from family, doing “dangerous military duty.”
The original event was planned for November 7, 2019, but then delayed with plans for December, but eventually happened on January 16, 2020. Indication was the IDF could not be ready for the event, thus the delay. However, we also do note that, in November 2019, there was much focus on the IDF recruiting at the Israeli consulate in Toronto, with letter writing, social media and also an action held at York University where IDF reservists were promoting the IDF. Perhaps November was not not an ideal time to bring more awareness to the illegal recruiting happening in Canada by holding a pizza party with Canadians in IDF uniforms at the Ambassador’s residence in Tel Aviv.
Two key preoccupations in the planning were the food and the weapons.
In regard to the food, how it would be prepared or obtained as the Ambassador’s residence kitchen was non-kosher, and what desserts could be best reminders of home for the Canadians serving a foreign military. Butter tarts and nanaimo bars with special boxes so the could take them home to the base were the topic of a series of emails.
The Canadians were on service in the IDF so would arrive in combat clothing and with their weapons. According to the access request, this presented a dilemma. it would not be possible to bring the weapons into the residence, but can’t leave the in stairwell as the optics of having a bunch of weapons in the stair case would not look good, and besides would be dangerous especially if need to exit in an emergency. They could be left outside in the guard house, but the security could not be responsible for the IDF weapons, so the IDF would have to have the weapons watched, perhaps having the guests rotate from the party to keeping an eye on the weapons.
Oh, how much work it takes to coordinate a pizza party and Canadian desserts for Canadians serving a foreign military. Read the full access request below.
You can also listen to Ms. Lyons speech and preoccupation with those who had their backs to her!
(starts around 40 min mark)
The access request:
All records held by the Canadian Ambassador’s Office in Tel Aviv and in Global Affairs
in Ottawa in regard to the event for lone soldiers hosted by Ambassador Lyons on or
around January 16, 2020. This would include but not be limited to briefing notes,
invitations, agendas, correspondence, emails, pictures, videos, budget/financials, lists
of guests. The records would include those from the planning, actual event and post
event. This would include the names of the individuals who were invited and in
attendance.
The response to request:
Photo credit: screen shot from the Mount Allison University broadcast of Convocation 2023
