The Muslim Students’ Association (MSA) at the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) is demanding a public apology from Ontario Energy Minister Stephen Lecce after he accused the group and others of being “antisemitic” and “morally degenerate” over a poster promoting a campus rally. The student association says Lecce’s remarks were defamatory and dangerous, and is threatening legal action if he does not retract them.
The controversy began Monday night when Lecce took to social media to condemn a jointly shared post by several UTM student groups promoting an October 7 rally on campus. The poster stated that the event would “honour our martyrs” in Palestine to ensure “they are never forgotten,” and was accompanied by a caption reading, “We remember the martyrs, we honour their legacy, and we continue the fight for a free Palestine.”
The post was shared by UTM’s Students’ Union, the Muslim Students’ Association, the Association of Palestinian Students, and the Toronto chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement.
Lecce reacted sharply, accusing the groups of celebrating terrorism. “It’s beyond appalling to think that this morally degenerate group will glorify the barbaric murder of 1,200 kids, mothers, fathers, and grandparents,” he wrote on X. “This hateful, antisemitic, and anti-democratic mob should be condemned and banned from any campus. This poisonous ideology is entirely incompatible with well-established Canadian values.”
The UTM MSA fired back in a statement on Instagram, calling Lecce’s claims “defamatory and completely false.” It argued that the minister had mischaracterized the event and warned that such rhetoric fuels Islamophobia. “Misrepresenting our event ‘Honouring our Martyrs’ as one that glorifies murder is dangerous. To label an event rooted in remembrance and solidarity as violent rhetoric is to incite further hostility and Islamophobia,” the group wrote.
The MSA demanded a public retraction and apology from Lecce, warning that failure to do so would prompt the group to “explore all legal avenues to defend our reputation and hold Minister Lecce accountable for his defamatory remark.”
The group linked Lecce’s language to broader anti-Muslim sentiment, referencing the 2021 London, Ont. truck attack that a judge ruled was an act of domestic terrorism targeting a Muslim family.
TorontoToday reached out to Lecce’s office and Premier Doug Ford’s office for comment on the legal threat and retraction demand but received no response by publication time.
This is not the first time the Ford government has faced accusations of Islamophobia. Last year, Ford expelled then-MPP Goldie Ghamari from the Progressive Conservative caucus after she met with far-right activist Tommy Robinson, drawing condemnation from the National Council of Canadian Muslims.
In his original post, Lecce also called on Ontarians to “pray for the immediate release of every hostage” and for “lasting peace for the region.”
The controversy comes amid the ongoing Israel–Gaza war, which has killed more than 67,000 people in Gaza, including at least 20,000 children, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Several international organizations, including Amnesty International and the UN Commission of Inquiry, have described the conflict as a genocide.