Strike picketing in 2025 and a 2024 pro-Palestine encampment cost Queen\u2019s almost $600,000 in external security costs.<\/p>\n
Through a Freedom of Information request, The Journal obtained e-mails and spreadsheets revealing some of Queen\u2019s spending on external security contractors. The documents show Queen\u2019s spent $576,331 during the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) 901 strike protests<\/a>, and $23,146 on the pro-Palestine encampment<\/a>. <\/p>\n For the PSAC 901 strike, Queen\u2019s paid $307,415 to Investigative Solutions Network<\/a> (ISN) and $268,915 to Cancom Security<\/a> to help manage security. <\/p>\n \u201cIt is common practice for CSES [Campus Security and Emergency Services] to engage licensed private security in times of high demand to augment campus security resources and help ensure the university can continue to operate safely and securely,\u201d Queen\u2019s wrote in a statement to The Journal.<\/p>\n A spreadsheet showed that April 7 to 11 was the costliest pay period, with ISN and Cancom charging the University a combined $107,668.<\/p>\n PSAC 901 \u2014 the union representing graduate student workers at Queen\u2019s including TAs, teaching fellows, and postdoctoral scholars \u2014 went on strike for seven weeks during the 2025 winter semester, consistently holding picket lines at the intersection of University Ave. and Union St.<\/p>\n During this time, Queen\u2019s hired external security to help monitor the protests, with former PSAC 901 President Jake Morrow claiming<\/a> in a CBC article that security got physical with protestors at times. <\/p>\n According to an email from Director of CSES Chris Scott, $23,146 was spent on external security contractors for the 12-day encampment \u2014 alongside an additional $3,683 in extra CSES staffing \u2014 bringing the total encampment cost to $26,830.<\/p>\n \u201cDuring last year\u2019s PSAC strike and also during the encampment activities outside Richardson Hall in 2024, additional security personnel were engaged to support crowd management and monitoring efforts and respond to community security and safety concerns, including maintaining safe access to campus buildings, study spaces, and exam venues,\u201d Queen\u2019s said.<\/p>\n Queen\u2019s said the cost figures were \u201caccurate, or very close\u201d to what was paid but couldn\u2019t verify them exactly due to The Journal\u2019s quick turnaround request.<\/p>\n The agreement between Queen\u2019s and ISN included a mention for the company to \u201cConduct Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) investigations to identify threats both prior to and during strike activities.\u201d In its statement to The Journal, Queen\u2019s expanded on that agreement.<\/p>\n \u201cThe university does, as a matter of practice, monitor publicly available social media content related to on-campus activities to maintain awareness of the campus environment. No additional online monitoring activities were undertaken outside of reviewing public posts.\u201d<\/p>\n Emails also showed that external security was obtained for convocation, although its cost was not clear.<\/p>\n \u201cIn addition to the staff you are already supplying for the encampment, I would like to request 4 staff to assist with Convocation on Friday May 24th. We have concerns that protestors may try and disrupt the ceremony and we want to be prepared for that. Can you supply 4 staff for 07:30 \u2013 15:30?\u201d Murray Skeggs, manager of security risk and training, wrote to an external contractor.<\/p>\n While PSAC 901 achieved wage increases of 21.53 per cent<\/a> over three years under their new collective agreement following the strike, University faculty have since claimed TA hours are effectively being reduced<\/a> because budget allocations have not increased alongside wages. TAs, meanwhile, say they are facing heavier workloads<\/a> to make up the difference.<\/p>\n Tags<\/p>\n \n Encampment<\/a>, PSAC 901<\/a>, PSAC 901 Strike 2025<\/a>, PSAC local 901<\/a> <\/p>\n All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s) in Chief and\/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be contacted, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Strike picketing in 2025 and a 2024 pro-Palestine encampment cost Queen\u2019s almost $600,000 in external security costs. 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