CanadaA prominent academic and former UN special rapporteur says he was detained by customs agents in Toronto while on his way to speak at a conference on human rights violations against Palestinians. Richard Falk says he and his wife were held for close to 4 hours in TorontoSarah Petz · CBC News · Posted: Nov 15, 2025 4:54 PM EST | Last Updated: 35 minutes agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Richard Falk, a former United Nations special rapporteur on occupied Palestine, is pictured here speaking at a news conference at the UN European headquarters in Geneva in 2014. Falk says he was detained at Toronto’s Pearson Airport by CBSA on Thursday while travelling to speak at a conference in Ottawa. (Denis Balibouse/Reuters )A prominent academic and former UN special rapporteur says he was detained by customs agents in Toronto while on his way to speak at a conference on human rights violations against Palestinians. Richard Falk, a retired Princeton University professor who was a UN special rapporteur on human rights in occupied Palestine, was on his way to Ottawa to speak at the Palestine Tribunal on Canadian Responsibility on Friday and Saturday. Dubbed a “people’s tribunal,” the event was organized as a forum to analyze and document “Canada’s complicity in the genocide and dispossession of Palestinians, including over the last two years in Gaza,” says a news release from its organizers. But upon arriving at customs at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport on Thursday with his wife, he says border agents took their passports and led them to an interview room. He said border agents told him they needed to determine whether he and his wife were a national security threat to Canada. “That never happened to me in my long life,” said Falk. Thursday also happened to be his 95th birthday, he said. Falk said they were asked a series of questions about his participation in the conference, his involvement in the Israel-Palestine conflict, and his position on Israel. After about four hours, Falk said he and wife were eventually released and allowed to enter Canada. CBSA declines to comment Asked about the incident, a CBSA spokesperson said they could not comment on specific cases, citing privacy legislation, but went on to say that all travelers entering Canada are subject to “secondary inspection.” “This is a normal part of the cross-border process and should not be viewed as any indication of wrongdoing,” the spokesperson said. “There are many reasons why a border services officer may determine that an individual, or the goods they are carrying, require further processing or inspection.”But based on the questions he was asked, Falk said he suspects he was detained because of his participation in the event. Falk was there to speak about the relevance of international law in the Israel-Gaza conflict. “It’s disappointing that Canada — after having acknowledged Palestinian statehood — would take such a hostile attitude toward a very forthright conference that really explained to a public, that hasn’t been so well informed, the nature of the objections to what Israel has been doing,” he said. “One expects Canada to be a model of free speech and liberal democracy and it’s not as bad as the U.S., but it’s not as good as I would hope.”WATCH | Concerns over the flow of aid into Gaza:Aid flow into Gaza still falling short as winter approachesIsrael reopened the Zikim crossing in northern Gaza to allow more supplies into the territory this week, but aid groups say the aid that has come through isn’t adequate as winter and the rainy season approaches. Conference organizer outraged Azeezah Kanji, chair of the Palestine Tribunal on Canadian Responsibility, said the conference’s organizers found out Falk was detained by border officials when they received a panicked phone call from his wife. Kanji said that prompted them to reach out to different high-ranking officials in an attempt to get Falk and his wife released. “We can’t reveal the particulars about what was done, but the degree of disturbance about this was extreme and universal across the board,” she said. “It’s outrageous that this could have happened.” Senator Yuen Pau Woo said he was contacted by the tribunal’s organizers about the incident on Thursday evening, which prompted him to contact the minister for public safety’s office. “I am shocked that two eminent experts on international law would be treated in this way, on Dr. Falk’s 95th birthday no less,” Woo said in an email. CBC News has contacted the ministry of public safety and will update this story if we receive a response. ABOUT THE AUTHORSarah Petz is a reporter with CBC Toronto. Her career has taken her across three provinces and includes a stint in East Africa. She can be reached at Sarah.Petz@cbc.ca.
Border officers detain well-known legal scholar travelling to Palestine conference in Ottawa
