The law applies to thee, but not to me

A public-sector union declares the law null and void because Canada is "stolen land."

I was out of town for a short getaway this weekend, but couldn’t miss Game 7 of the Leafs-Bruins series on Saturday night.

If I had a nickel for every time I’d been on vacation in a hotel room watching the Maple Leafs lose the deciding game of a playoff series in heartbreaking fashion, I’d have two nickels, which isn’t much but it’s more than a lifetime of Leafs fandom has given me.

And I was traveling on Sunday afternoon and missed Lando Norris getting his long overdue first F1 victory. But I did manage to catch the closest finish in NASCAR history - 0.001 seconds dividing winner Kyle Larson from runner-up Chris Buescher - last night.

NASCAR has been absolutely killing it with close race finishes this year. At the expense of one car manufacturer in particular.

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Some Ontario chapters of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, in support of the pro-Hamas encampment at the University of Toronto, have declared that trespassing isn’t really a thing when you’re on “stolen land”:

Public union leaders across the province have pledged their unwavering support for the anti-Israel encampment established at the University of Toronto last week.

On Thursday, U of T administrators notified activists that any demonstrations on private school property after 10 p.m. could result in legal consequences. The warning prompted the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Ontario and three local chapters to release a solidarity statement.

“We fully reject the administration’s attempt to deny them their constitutional right to peaceful assembly,” the union wrote in a public statement. “Administration says they are protesting on private property, a claim we reject entirely. They are protesting on stolen land.”

I’m assuming they aren’t just saying U of T is “stolen land” and therefore a place where the law is effectively null and void, but referring to the entire country.

In which case, CUPE - whose leadership, it must be said, is much more radically left-wing than the overwhelming majority of it largely middle-class membership - might want to be careful what it wishes for.

After all, if Canada is stolen and its very existence illegitimate, and if that applies to all laws passed by all three levels of government, and if it therefore means the pro-Hamas demonstrators are entitled to stay wherever they want and that legally the state has no right to impose upon them any legal sanction whatsoever, and since I’m sure the people running CUPE’s social media accounts are principled and intellectually consistent thinkers who will begrudgingly accept that the “stolen land” loophole applies not just to those who agree with them but to all people currently squatting on this land called “Canada,” well…they might want to keep a close watch on their properties and offices.

After all, if trespassing on private property isn’t really a thing, that presumably applies not just to U of T but to CUPE’s own facilities across the country.

Which means that if you’re in the market for some new office furniture and computers and coffee makers and stuff, you should be morally justified in barging into your local CUPE office and just taking whatever you want. Or maybe just setting up your own encampment there and leaving whenever you damn well feel like it.