Tareq Hadhad, a Syrian refugee and founder of Peace by Chocolate, poses in front of his chocolate factory in Antigonish, N.S. on Jan. 9, 2018.Darren Calabrese/The Globe and Mail
The premier professional organization for Canadian litigators is facing mounting criticism over its decision to cancel the keynote speaker at its end-of-year gala over concerns about the man’s social-media posts on Gaza and Israel.
The Advocates’ Society, a not-for-profit association with more than 6,000 members, rescinded its offer to Syrian refugee-turned-entrepreneur Tareq Hadhad after the organization was inundated with messages from lawyers and law firms, expressing frustration with the choice.
Some members took issue with a social-media post from Mr. Hadhad in which he called for a stop to what he described as the “genocide” in Gaza, but many of the complaints also highlighted Mr. Hadhad’s apparent lack of public support for Israel on social media in the aftermath to the Oct. 7 attack.
The decision to cancel Mr. Hadhad’s speech has been sharply rebuked by some legal groups as an assault on free speech, and triggered high-profile member resignations, including from past president Marie Henein.
On Monday, the South Asian Bar Association of Toronto condemned the move, noting it will have a “chilling effect on the expression of diverse opinions” and that The Advocates’ Society is now “stumbling backwards” on past commitments to diversity and inclusion.
The organization’s announcement that Mr. Hadhad would headline its June gala immediately triggered a wave of backlash in March. Multiple prominent law firms threatened to not buy tables at the gala, said two sources with knowledge of events. The Globe and Mail is not naming them as they are not authorized to speak publicly on the issue.
The social-media post from Mr. Hadhad that appears to have attracted the most attention was posted in May, 2024, in which he wrote: “Just looking at this and thinking of all the children that we failed everywhere and continue to fail in Rafah and all of Gaza. This genocide must be stopped. Children should wake up to the sounds of birds not the sounds of bombs. Time for this to end and be stopped.”
In a statement to The Globe, Mr. Hadhad said his intention at the gala was to speak about the dignity of every human being and values that unite, rather than divide: “I stand firm on my values and I am proud of who I am. My story is not political, it is personal. It is rooted in lived experience.”
Mr. Hadhad is a well-known Canadian entrepreneur and public speaker. In 2012, his home and family business – a chocolate factory – were destroyed in Damascus. The Hadhads fled to Lebanon and eventually settled in Canada where they founded Peace by Chocolate in Nova Scotia, which donates a portion of its profits to peace-building projects.
Vicki White, chief executive officer of The Advocates’ Society, said in a statement to The Globe that the decision to move away from Mr. Hadhad was not tied to any specific post, “but rather the impact this discussion had on our members, creating division and harm for some, instead of community and collegiality.”
Jonathan Lisus, a litigator at Lax O’Sullivan Lisus Gottlieb LLP, was among those who wrote to The Advocates’ Society, expressing concern about Mr. Hadhad’s involvement. In an interview, Mr. Lisus rejected accusations that the concerns he and others have about Mr. Hadhad – “who I’m sure is a very fine man” – amounted to attacks on free speech.
“I encourage Mr. Hadhad to hold and express his opinions and would resolutely defend his right to do so,” he said. “The end-of-term dinner isn’t a debate union or a university current affairs club. It’s a supper to mark the end of the court’s session where advocates meet for dinner as friends not adversaries and celebrate legal advocacy.”
His e-mail to The Advocates’ Society, which has been widely circulated, and which was viewed by The Globe, was consequential in influencing the decision to rescind Mr. Hadhad’s speaking offer, said one of the individuals with knowledge of the situation.
“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,” Mr. Lisus wrote. “In my respectful view, the Society’s choice to feature a speaker who holds such a one-sided view of an issue of overriding concern and great anguish to its Jewish members is highly insensitive and in very poor taste.”
Mr. Lisus told The Globe that if Mr. Hadhad had also publicly lamented on issues such as Iran’s missile attacks on Israeli population centres or the murder of the Druze children in Northern Israel, he would not have complained about his involvement.
Husein Panju, chair of the Canadian Muslim Lawyers Association, told The Globe that the fact that Mr. Hadhad has been punished for something he didn’t write is troubling.
“Since when has it been a requirement for people to provide equal billing to all sides of every issue?” Mr. Panju said. “What makes this incident particularly painful is that the silencing is coming from an organization that claims to stand for civil liberties.”
The Advocates’ Society told its members about the decision to cancel Mr. Hadhad’s speech in an e-mail last week:
“We selected Tareq Hadhad, founder of Peace by Chocolate, as the keynote speaker because he is an advocate for Canada and has an inspiring personal story about his perseverance as a Syrian refugee that he was going to share,” the note said. “While it was never our intention for Mr. Hadhad to speak about the conflict, with regret, we concluded that this is not the right time or event for Mr. Hadhad to address our members.”
Last year’s keynote speaker at the gala was Bob Rae. In 2023, it was Supreme Court of Canada Justice Michelle O’Bonsawin.