Almost 700 Canadian lawyers, professors and law students have signed an open letter calling the backlash against pro-Palestinian voices within the legal profession and academia a “new McCarthyism.” The letter is the latest flashpoint in increasing tensions and simmering antisemitism and Islamophobia in Canada’s legal community.

“I worry that it’s going to get worse,” and civility in the profession will erode even further, said Chad Finkelstein, a partner at Toronto business law firm Dale & Lessmann.