Demand Canadian Universities Divest From WSP

WSP Global is a Canadian company based in Quebec that provides technical expertise and strategic consulting on large-scale construction and infrastructure projects. WSP is a major contractor in Israel's apartheid regime and the illegal occupation in Palestine. It is the project manager for the Jerusalem Light Rail (JLR) and supported the Tel-Aviv Jerusalem Fast Train (A1) project located in occupied Jerusalem which was annexed by Israel in contravention of international law as well as Canada's official policy. WSP is also involved in the ongoing occupation of Kashmir through the construction of the Chenab railway bridge.

WSP has over 100 offices in Canada and their website lists about 150 projects ongoing in Canada. WSP's projects not only help entrench occupation elsewhere in the world, but are also carried out and profit on the stolen Indigenous land we call Canada.

WSP is complicit in systematic breaches of Palestinian and Kashmiri rights, in gross violation of international law through its key involvement in the JLR and the Chenab bridge. International humanitarian law is binding on all entities active during or related to armed conflict. This includes business enterprises, whether or not they participate in active hostilities.

Notably, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB)—Canada's national pension plan—and la Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ)—which manages Quebec's pension plan—are the largest WSP shareholders with 23% (8.9% and 13.9% respectively). This means all residents of Canada contributing to the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) or the Quebec Pension Plan (QPP) are indirectly participating in WSP's violations of international law.

Additionally, the Quebec pension Fonds de solidarité FTQ—the largest development capital investment network in Quebec—held $4.35 billion in WSP as of May 31, 2025. Further, based on an initial analysis in 2025, at least twelve Canadian universities hold investments in WSP (University of Alberta, Acadia University, Dalhousie University, Saint Mary's University, Simon Fraser University, University of King's College, University of Winnipeg, Western University, McGill University, University of British Columbia, University of Manitoba, and University of Ottawa).

WSP is actively participating in both of the Israeli and Indian occupations. They are aiding and abetting the expansion of these settler-colonial projects amounting to war crimes. While WSP has wiped its website clean of any references to the JLR, it openly brags about its work in occupied Kashmir. This suggests that WSP knows what it is doing in Palestine is illegal and unsavory—and it must realize that its actions in Kashmir are no different. As a Canadian multinational company, WSP must be held accountable for its participation in projects in these settler colonial regimes and on illegally occupied lands in Palestine and Kashmir.