Category: CPA Statements

Open letters and statements to the public from the Canada Palestine Association.

CPA Condemns the Banning of Samidoun

The Canada Palestine Association condemns the Canadian government’s banning of Samidoun, a pro-Palestinian advocacy group. This move was done in conjunction with the US government and followed years of aggressive Zionist lobbying. It also represented “cheap politics” on the part of the current Liberal government, pandering to a right wing agenda and trying to score political points by literally squashing civil and democratic rights. 

For over a year, the Canadian government has not taken any serious actions against the Israeli TERRORISM, war crimes and genocide being carried out against the Palestinian and Lebanese people. But instead of criminalizing those forces who are actually burning people alive in Gaza, this government chose to put yet another Palestinian group on its “terrorist list”. And this time, they are setting a dangerous precedent by banning an independent Palestinian political advocacy group with no organizational affiliations to any Palestinian resistance groups. 

In 2002, the Liberal government of the day listed several Islamic Liberation Organizations on Canada’s so-called “Terrorist list” and then in 2003, they also added most Palestinian resistance groups to the same list.  

The Israeli government and its array of lobby groups have clearly been behind these listings; their main objective is to supress any solidarity work for Palestinian liberation and supress criticism of the Zionist settler colonialist project (Israel). 

Repression against advocates for Palestine is steadily increasing across Canada, from arrests by local police forces to unfounded smears by provincial and federal politicians. But as CPA Chair Hanna Kawas said in a recent interview: “We’re going to keep the solidarity work (alive) and the support work for Palestinian liberation and for Palestinian resistance organizations, whether they like it or not.” 

We must continue to stand with the Palestinian people and not be intimidated with government edicts; lets show true internationalist solidarity with Palestinian advocacy and liberation and show that anti-Palestinian racism has no place in Canada or anywhere else.


Other resources: https://iclmg.ca/iclmg-calls-for-end-to-terror-list/
Tell the Canadian Government to Stop Criminalizing Palestinian Advocacy – Action Network

Scotiabank must divest completely from Elbit Systems!

  • Any funding of genocide is too much. We will not rest until Scotiabank divests completely from Israeli war crimes.

On June 3, 2023 Vancouver activists held a march and flash action at Scotiabank headquarters, to help launch a national campaign to demand that Scotiabank divest from the Israeli arms maker Elbit Systems.  

Since then, Scotiabank’s asset fund has reduced its half a billion dollar investment in Elbit 3 times, but still owns 1.44% of Elbit shares (worth approx. $113 million). Many groups and individuals have been part of the campaign to say #ShameonScotiabank for funding Israeli genocide; it is this collective pressure that produced results. A special shoutout to allies in the artists and writers community who embraced this issue, and helped increase the visibility of the campaign in new and creative ways. 

However, although Scotiabank is no longer the largest foreign investor in Elbit, it is still one of the “top ten”. Any funding of genocide is too much. We will not rest until Scotiabank divests completely from Israeli war crimes. 

New article on AlMayadeen English: Divesting from Genocide! | Al Mayadeen English

From France: En Amérique du Nord, des campagnes contre les complices du génocide à Gaza engrangent des victoires | Palestine Vaincra

Support the students at Vancouver Island University!

We stand in solidarity with the steadfast students of Vancouver Island University VIU. As they mark over 100 days of their encampment, VIU has filed a shameful lawsuit against their students instead of engaging in discourse to address their complicity in the ongoing genocide in Gaza. More info on instagram from Palestine Solidarity Encampment PSE: VIU Palestine Solidarity Encampment (@pse_viu) • Instagram photos and videos

And support the students by donating to their legal defense fund Legal Support for VIU Students at the PSE (gofundme.com) or by joining supporters at the court on August 14th from 9AM to 4PM at 800 Smithe Street, Vancouver.

Here are some of the updates – Day 1 in Court:

Day 2 in Court, students were also supported by BCCLA.

#StopTheJNF…We will not Stop, We will not Rest!

News broke earlier this week about Canada Revenue Agency’s intention to revoke the JNF’s charitable status. Although this was positive news, only brought on by enormous grassroots pressure, we must be cautious in considering this a victory. It is not yet a done deal and the JNF, in its own July 25 media statement, announced that they were appealing and “JNF Canada will continue its charitable activity including collecting and receipting donations and distributing funds while the legal challenge is before the Federal Court of Appeal…JNF Canada is continuing its work”. So for now, JNF Canada (and by extension Canadian taxpayers) are still funding genocide and ethnic cleansing.

Attached are photos and a video from multiple #StopTheJNF pickets in Vancouver, initiated by CPA over the last 20 years.

Zionism and its lobby groups are bankrupt!

Future historians will study how a settler colonial regime, engaged in a vicious genocide, managed to promote the false narrative of themselves as the “victim”. Academics will marvel at how this narrative was adopted and parroted by Western politicians, institutions and the media, even those claiming to be progressive. 

They will be dumbfounded how the U.S.-Israeli aggression on Gaza committed massacre after massacre, but would then escape criticism by rushing to recycle some debunked claims from nine months earlier. And observers will also note how the outrageous weaponization of “anti-Semitism” by the Zionist lobby resulted in an increase of real anti-Jewish racism in the West. 

Two recent examples in Canada illustrate how this process functions with amazing efficiency. One is the outrageous smear campaign against a Palestinian community member in Vancouver, in which the BC NDP premier participated, and the other is the deleting of a photograph about Palestinian embroidery by Ontario’s NDP leader. In both cases, pro-Israel lobby groups had come out swinging to denounce what was legitimate political protest in the first situation, and basic cultural expression in the second. 

We know the Zionist groups are becoming more desperate by the day, and really can’t comprehend why a large segment of the population refuses to support their genocidal campaign. As such, their attacks on activists are also becoming more vicious and unhinged. 

Earlier this month, activists in BC held a protest at an international women’s softball tournament that featured a game between Canada and Israel. An open letter denouncing the targeting of Dania Barakat noted that she “has been subjected to vicious smears and doxing by organized pro-Israeli racists. This happened after she participated in a July 3, 2024 protest against Team Israel, who were shamefully welcomed in Surrey to play in the Canada Women’s Softball Cup tournament.” 

We are not surprised when Zionist advocates launch these kind of fabricated charges against activists, but what is really galling is how so many of our politicians are willing to “pile on” without even the most cursory checks of what actually happened. Nonetheless they use their social media accounts to spread these outrageous smears and help inflame campaigns that have resulted in people losing their livelihoods, their future careers and even being charged with “hate crimes”. Their behaviour has real-life consequences, consequences that are devastating for the individuals involved (curiously in the Vancouver area, most of the individuals targeted have been women).  

In Ontario, NDP leader Maria Stiles quickly deleted a photo of a booth promoting Palestinian embroidery after being chastised by Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center FSWC as follows: “The ‘beautiful Palestinian embroidery’ that you speak of represents the erasure of Israel and its Jewish people…It is unbecoming of a political leader to celebrate such a display, which causes harm to Jews in Canada and Israel.” 

She complied and removed the photo, thereby promoting the racism that even forms of Palestinian cultural expression are forbidden. One of the embroidery pieces had dared to show the map of historical Palestine, and this was too much for FSWC, who demanded an apology.  

As Zionism moves close to its inevitable demise, the Israeli state and its supporters are attacking anyone and anything that dares to stand up and support Palestine. But their movement tactics are bankrupt, as bankrupt as the Eilat port, and we are certain this vicious ideology will soon be in the dustbin of history!

(cover photo Michael YC Tseng)