Category: Events

Reception is fully booked. Thanks for your support.

Join us at a reception to commemorate the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People and honour Robert Lovelace, indigenous activist, lecturer and twice a Freedom Flotilla to Gaza sailor.
When: Saturday, Nov. 28, 2015, 1 pm
Where: Tamam’s Restaurant, 2616 E. Hastings, Vancouver
Admission: $10 – $15 sliding scale (all proceeds will go to Tamam Defense Fund). The reception will include a light lunch.
Lets mark the over 40 years of active solidarity in Vancouver between the indigenous peoples of Turtle Island and Palestine.
Hosted by BDS Vancouver-Coast Salish, Canada Palestine Association-Vancouver and Seriously Free Speech Committee.

With: ROBERT LOVELACE, Dima Alansari and Glen Coulthard

Friday, November 27 @ 7pm

SFU Downtown, Room 1700
515 West Hastings, Unceded Coast Salish Territories

For more information: info@seriouslyfreespeech.ca

STOLEN LAND : STOLEN VOICES
Canada and Israel are both built on land and resources stolen by European settlers; both are still sustained by the ongoing repression of indigenous peoples. The indigenous peoples of Canada and Palestine are on the front lines resisting the destruction of the land by militarism and industrial extraction. In the mainstream media and the halls of power, indigenous activists’ voices and stories have been silenced – they are treated as terrorists or historical curiosities. This evening will explore the commonalities of indigenous struggles for land and freedom in Canada and in Palestine as well as connections to the global fight for a decolonized world.

ROBERT LOVELACE is a lecturer at Queen’s University’s Dept. of Global Development Studies. An activist in anti-colonial struggles, he spent 3 ½ months in jail as a political prisoner for defending the Ardoch homeland from uranium exploration. A former chief of the Anoch Algonquin First Nation, Robert sailed twice on the Freedom Flotilla attempting to break the blockade of Gaza.

DIMA ALANSARI is a Palestinian-Kuwaiti filmmaker and performer based in Vancouver. She co-wrote and performed in “Return Home,” a play about the intersecting journeys of an Anishinaabe woman from Quebec living under the legacy of colonization, and a Palestinian woman born in exile, living in diaspora. She is currently the creative director of Salish Sea Productions, a media and production collective creating socially relevant works on themes of social justice, Immigrant, Indigenous and intercultural issues, women, youth & environment.

GLEN COULTHARD (Yellowknives Dene) is an assistant professor in the First Nations Studies Program and Political Science Department at UBC. His recent book “Red Skin, White Masks” exposes the politics of Canada’s ongoing colonialism.

Organised by the Seriously Free Speech Committee • seriouslyfreespeech.ca

Sponsored by Canada Palestine Association/BDS Vancouver, Canadian Boat to Gaza, Independent Jewish Voices – Vancouver, South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy, UBC Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights

Endorsed by Boycott Israeli Apartheid Campaign, North West Indigenous Council, Streams of Justice, United Network for a Just Peace in Palestine and Israel.

UBC Campus meeting With Robert Lovelace
Queens University Lecturer & former Anoch Algonquin Chief
Friday, November 27 @ 1pm
Room 098, Henry Angus Building
2053 Main Mall, Unceded & Occupied Musqueam Territory

Friday, Oct. 23, 1 pm
Vancouver Central Public Library, 350 W. Georgia St.
Join us on Friday for a rally outside the Vancouver Public Library (Robson St. side) to express our solidarity with the Palestinian people, especially the youth that are challenging the current status quo. They are saying: Enough of Occupation, Enough of Collaboration, Enough of Apartheid. There have been massive rallies and protests around the world and in cities in Canada – lets show Vancouver is part of the global wave of actions in support of the Palestinian struggle.
“The ongoing, youth-led Palestinian uprising is a response to Israel’s intensifying ethnic cleansing and oppression of Palestinians, especially in occupied Jerusalem. In recent months, Israel has sped up its theft of Palestinian land and demolition of Palestinians homes, stepped up its racist attacks on the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, tightened the siege on Gaza and implemented new racist measures against Palestinian citizens of Israel.”
“Join an international Wave of Action in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle. Stand with the Palestinian struggle…..take action, and develop Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions efforts.” (Statement from BDS Movement, Palestine)

Organized by Canada Palestine Association-Vancouver and BDS Vancouver-Coast Salish Territories. Endorsed by Alliance for People’s Health, International League of Peoples Struggle, Samidoun
For more info, contact info@cpavancouver.org

Free Palestine!! Boycott Israel!! The Struggle Continues!!

Report on the Rally

Oct. 23, Vancouver, Canada
A lunchtime rally in downtown Vancouver with Palestinian flags fluttering in the wind and spirited chants attracted a diverse crowd. Hundreds of leaflets were distributed to passersby highlighting the brutal and excessive force being used by the Israeli military and settlers. Solidarity messages were given by Independent Jewish Voices-Vancouver, Frente Hugo Chavez, Canada-Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights and Vancouver Solidarity for Ayotzinapa (Mexico).

For a short clip of the chants and intro to the speakers, see:

For a more detailed report on the speeches at the rally, see Barabari TV report:

For an excerpt of an interview before the rally with Hanna Kawas and for more pictures and videos, check out the Facebook event page.
Thanks to all the supporters who came out and to all the people that contributed in documenting and recording the event.
Viva viva, Palestina! Free Palestine!
BDS Vancouver-Coast Salish Territories and Canada Palestine Association-Vancouver.