Featured – Page 23 – Canada Palestine Association

Photo Gallery from #Nakba74 Actions in Vancouver, Victoria

On May 15, activists in BC came out to commemorate #Nakba74 and demand justice for Palestine. In Vancouver, several hundred people attended a rally at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Presentations included Solidarity Notes Choir; Columpa Bobb reading poetry for her late mom, indigenous poet Lee Maracle; and several speakers, including Palestinian-Canadian writer and journalist Khaled Barakat. The crowd then marched to the U.S. consulate. Victoria activists marked #Nakba74 with several banner drops on a busy highway overpass.
(Vancouver photos courtesy of Michael Y.C. Tseng)

Solidarity Notes Choir showing support for Palestine

Columpa Bobb reading “Remembering Mahmoud”, a poem written by her late mother Lee Maracle

Khaled Barakat speaks at the Vancouver rally

Stop the smear campaigns against Palestinian Advocacy!

New Article in Mondoweiss: Fearmongering and intimidation by Canada’s pro-Israel lobby – Mondoweiss

(Over 85 Canadian and international organizations have endorsed this statement, as well as numerous individuals including Roger Waters. Join with them and send your own letter to Canadian officials here.)

Today, we are witnessing an intensified campaign by the pro-Israel lobby in Canada to smear Palestinian activists and their supporters. Last week, the National Post (NP) ran an online article about Palestinian-Canadian writer Khaled Barakat and the advocacy organization Samidoun. On April 30, the same article was splashed across their front page of their paper and has since been referenced in the Canadian Senate and the Jerusalem Post.

A year ago, Canada Palestine Association and 35 other concerned organizations issued a statement detailing their rejection of attempts to criminalize Samidoun, a Palestinian advocacy group for prisoners, by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Advocacy (CIJA). At that time, we said: Should Canada’s policies on these important issues be decided by what the Israeli government dictates?

We repeat the question now. All of this recent hysteria can be traced back to the one article written by Terry Glavin. However, Mr. Glavin admitted in his own blog on April 29 that B’nai Brith first approached him with their “files” on the subject. He also thanked CIJA in the same blog entry for their assistance.

There seems to be nothing new in the recent defamation campaign, which relies heavily on already known social media posts and Israeli official and intelligence sources (which are mentioned at least 13 times in the NP article). So what pushed the Zionist lobby groups to resurrect this campaign at this specific time? Is it an attempt to deflect attention from the student union resolutions in support of Palestine at major Canadian universities? Or an effort to distract from the growing number of organizations that have expressly condemned Israeli practices as apartheid?

The French government recently tried to ban a Palestinian support group, “Collectif Palestine Vaincra”, but have already been forced by their own courts to suspend that decision.

We tell the Canadian government that the old smear tactics of “trial by fire” are not acceptable. As our statement last year concluded: “This criminalization of Palestinian advocacy is unacceptable and unfounded; Palestinian-Canadians and their supporters have no intention of allowing biased officials to suppress their democratic rights and their voices.”

Signed:
Canada Palestine Association-Vancouver
BDS Vancouver-Coast Salish

Endorsed by:
Academics for Palestine – Concordia
Actions4Palestine A4P, Toronto
Anti Imperialist Alliance, Ottawa
Association of Palestinian Arab Canadians (APAC), Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Bayan Canada
BDS Caucus UTGSU
Barnard-Boecker Centre Foundation, Victoria BC
Canada Palestine Support Network (CanPalNet)
Canada-Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights
Canadian BDS Coalition
Canadian Foreign Policy Institute
Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid-Victoria
Communist Party Canada
East Indian Defense Committee (EIDC)
Edmonton Small Press Association
Friends of the Filipino People in Struggle – Coast Salish Territories
Free Palestine Halifax
Free Palestine YEG, Edmonton
Global Peace Alliance BC
GTA Palestine Movement
GT4BDS (Greater Toronto 4 BDS)
Hamilton Coalition to Stop The War
HR4A Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK
Independent Jewish Voices Canada
Independent Jewish Voices Vancouver
In Our Right Minds, Toronto
International League of Peoples’ Struggle Canada
Just Peace Advocates
Just Peace Committee-BC
Justice For All Canada, Toronto
Justice for Palestinians, Calgary
Labour for Palestine – Canada
Niagara Movement for Justice in Palestine-Israel (NMJPI)
Oakville Palestinian Rights Association (OPRA), Oakville, Ontario
OPIRG Carleton
Palestinian and Jewish Unity PAJU
Palestinian Student Society Association (PSSA), Guelph
Palestinian Youth Movement PYM
Palestine Solidarity Network – Edmonton
Peace Alliance Winnipeg
Secours Rouge Montréal, Montréal, QC
Simon Fraser University Students for Justice in Palestine, BC
Socialist Action
Socialist Project, Toronto
Students Against Israeli Apartheid U of T
Sulong UBC
Toronto Raging Grannies
Vancouver Peace Council
Venezuela Peace and Solidarity Committee, BC

Al Naqab Center for Youth (مركز النقب للأنشطة الشبابية), Burj el Barjneh camp, Lebanon
Alkarama (Palestinian Womens Movement), Spain
Arab Palestinian Cultural Club (APCC) Tripoli-Lebanon
Association for Investment in Popular Action Committees, California
Communist Youth of Sweden, SKU, Sweden
Free Palestine Movement, USA
Free Speech on Israel, UK
Friends of Sabeel North America
Indonesian Palestine Alliance IDPAL, Indonesia
International Solidarity Movement, Northern California
Jericho Boston , Boston
Jewish Network for Palestine (UK)
Jews for Palestinian Right of Return, USA
Labor for Palestine, US
Nakba Tour, California and Lebanon
Nevadans for Palestinian Human rights, Las Vegas
NYU Law Students for Justice in Palestine, NYC
One State Assembly, Palestine
PAAF PEOPLE AGAINST APARTHEID AND FASCISM, Cape Town
Palbox, Oregon
Palestine Children’s Welfare Fund, California
Palestine Solidarity Alliance, South Africa
Palestine Solidarity Campaign – Cape Town|
Palestinian Cultural Club – Beirut (PCC), Lebanon-Beirut
Palestinian Union in Latin America|
Party for Socialism and Liberation, United States
Peace, Justice, Sustainability NOW, Florida
Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad, Lebanon
(لبنان – المؤتمر الشعبي لفلسطينني الخارج)
Resumen Latinoamericano, California
Revolutionaire Eenheid, The Netherlands
Serena Shim Award, California
Shurok, Spain
Students for justice in Palestine – Rutgers, New Brunswick, NJ
Students for Justice in Palestine at Butler University
Students for Justice in Palestine at UC Davis, California
Students for Justice in Palestine, Chicago
Students for Justice in Palestine, Wayne NJ
Students United for Palestinian Equal Rights – University of Washington
Syria Support Movement, International
Veterans for Peace, CA, USA

Individual Endorsers:

Ali Mallah, Justice Activist, Toronto
Allan Hansen, Industrial Pipefitter, Edmonton, Alberta
Andrew Brook, Retired academic, Ottawa
Angie Mindel, Retired, Nottingham U.K.
Anna Willats, College Faculty and Coordinator, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Barry Heselwood, Academic, Keighley, UK
Beyaz Almas, Worker, BC
Bill Skidmore, Retired professor, Ottawa, ON
Cathy Cronin, Regular Canadian, Napanee Ontario
Cathy Gulkin, Documentary filmmaker, Toronto, Canada
Christine McMillan, Retired teacher and tax officer, England UK
Ciara Taylor, NYU law student, New York
Claude Brasseur, Activist, St-Albert, ON
Daphne Stapleton, Peace Activist, Toronto, Canada
Dave Diewert, Retired teacher, Surrey, BC
David Fairn, Journalist, N.S.
David Low, Clergy, St. Catharines, Ontario
Davidi Hadley Finke, Quaker leader, Peace Advocate, Oberlin, Ohio — Land of the Erie
Dorothy Field, artist/writer, Victoria BC
Dr. David Maxwell, Physician, Nova Scotia
Dr. Dwyer Sullivan, Retired high school teacher of Social Justice and World Religions. Kitchener, Ontario
Dr. Jodi Braine, Concerned global citizen, Fredericton, NB
Egbert Harmsen, Activist for human rights, Leiden, The Netherlands
Elie Halabi, Administrator, Repentigny
Ellen Franzen, retired, Berkeley, CA
Emad Hammoud, Self-Employed , London
Enver Domingo, Retired, Oakville Canada
Fahad Chowdhury, Professional Engineer, Elkford
Faris Ziyad, Academic, Chicago
Frances Combs, clergy, Toronto
Frank Holden, Actor/folksinger/writer/human rights activist, St. John’s
Genie Silver, Academic, Pennsylvania, US
Giorgio Ramadhan, Lawyer, Indonesia
Gord Doctorow, Ed.D, Retired educator. Toronto, Canada
Greg Albo, academic and author, Toronto
Haim Bresheeth-Zabner, Academic, author and filmmaker London, UK
Henry Zaccak, CEO, Toronto
Himani Bannerji, Professor, Toronto
Issam Alyamani, Writer, Mississauga, Canada
Jake Javanshir, Activist, Toronto
Jalal Kawash, Academic, Calgary
James Dickins, Academic, Leeds, United Kingdom
Jan Corderman, Peace Activist, Pleasant Hill, Iowa
Jan Steven, mother, grandmother, wife St. Catharines
Jane Collier, Academic, United Kingdom
Jane Story, former journalist, Toronto
Jeff Winkelaar, Retired, Edmonton
Jennifer Whitfield, Activist, Newfoundland, Canada
Jim Mitchell, m.d., Toronto
John Darling, Retired NDP activist, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
John Grant, Retired, UK
John Liss, lawyer, Toronto
John Mark Robertson, Social Service Worker, Belleville, Ontario
Jonathan Kuttab, Executive Director, Friends of Sabeel North America (FOSNA)
Judith Goldschmidt, Jewish Human Rights Activist, Courtenay, BC
Karen Platt, Jew with a conscience, Albany CA
Karen Rodman, Ordained clergy, human rights advocate, Kawartha Lakes
Kate Chung, Grandmother, Toronto
Katerina Nikas, Writer, Halifax, Nova Scotia
Kathleen Von Riesen, Reg, Nurse, Newfoundland & Labrador
Kevin Gould, Associate Professor, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada
Khaled Husseini, Business Owner, Ottawa
Khaled Mouammar, Former Member, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Richmond HIll, Ontario
Khan Jooneed, Journalist, Writer, Human Rights Activist, Montreal, CANADA
Laila Atallah, Lawyer,United States
Laura June Rose, Food industry worker, Vancouver
Lawrence Sutherland, Activist, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Lesley McGorrigan, University worker, UK
Lorraine Michael, Retired Politician, Newfoundland and Labrador
Louise Seidel, Artistic Producer of Theatre, Saskatchewan,
Lynette Bondarchuk, Artist; NPO Administrator; Tenants Advocate, Edmonton
Manhal Alfalasteny, Artist, singer, Tunisia
María Alejandra Torres, Law student, NYC
Mariam Furre, Geographer, Ottawa
Mark Hagar, Retiree, Hamilton
Mark James, Academic, Ontario
Marlena Santoyo, Jewish activist, Philadelphia, USA
Martin Fontaine, agent de pastorale, Montréal
Michael Hajjar, Student, Chicago
Michael Kuttner, Teacher (retired), Toronto
Michal Sapir, Writer and musician, Tel Aviv
Mike Cushman from Free Speech on Israel (UK)
Monica Harhay, Concerned citizen, Toronto, Ontario
Nancy Withington, academic; wife of Palestinian refugee, Santa Barbara, Ca.
Nora Lester Murad, writer, educator, social justice activist, Massachusetts, USA
Norma Rantisi, Academic, Montreal
Pete Firmin, Activist, London
Peter Eglin, Professor Emeritus of Sociology, Kitchener
Peter Purich, Technical Writer (retired), Ottawa
Phyllis Creighton, author; retired editor, scholarly publication, Toronto
Rachel Marandett, NYU Law Student, NYC
Rashmi Luther, Academic (Retired), School of Social Work, Carleton University
Rebecca Hagey, Retired professor, Lion’s Head Ontario
Rehab Nazzal, Visual artist, Toronto
Rev. F. Mark Mealing, Ph.D., Anglican Priest & retired Academic, Meadow Creek, B.C.
Rev. Lilian Patey, Clergy, Windsor, Ontario
Richard Kuper, Researcher and campaigner, London, GB
Richard Thoreau, Retired, Victoria
Robert Assaly, Priest, Montreal
Robert Fantina, Author and activist, Kitchener, Ontario
Robert Kent, Emeritus Professor, Computer Science, Elkford, B.C.
Roger Waters, Musician /Activist, NY
Roland Verrier, Retired, Coquitlam, BC
Roswitha Shaw, retired, Ottawa
Salim Assi, Artist, Art of resistance, Copenhagen Denmark
Samuel Miriello, Human Resources Professional, Montreal
Sara Traub, educator, Thornbury
Sean Phipps, Teacher, Vancouver
Sheila Dunnachie, Retired union activist, Mayne Island
Sherry Ann Chapman, Engaged citizen, Edmonton
Sid Shniad, Founding member, Independent Jewish Voices Canada, Surrey, B.C.
Simaan Khoury, President, Palestinian Union of Latin America, El Salvador
Sue Lyon, Advocate, Kingston
Susan Stout, union activist, North Vancouver
Teresa Diewert, Teacher, Surrey, British Columbia
Terri Ginsberg, film scholar, Montreal, Quebec
Terry Gallogly, Retired, York
Thomas Brown, Academic (mathematician), Vancouver BC
Tony Greenstein, Writer and blogger, Brighton UK
Vera Szoke, Retired Highschool Teacher, Toronto, Canada
W. T. Beckett, Human Rights Activist, St. John’s, NL
Walid Alawar, Businessman and social activist, Ontario
Walid Eletry, supporter, Ajax,Ontario
William Ruhm, Social worker, Boston, MA
Wolfe Erlichman, Member, Independent Jewish Voices, Godfrey, ON

Friends of the Campaign to “Tell BC Govt to Pull Israeli Apartheid Wines!”

Our “Friends of the Campaign” initiative highlights notable friends and allies who have endorsed our letter campaign to “Tell BC Govt to Pull Israeli Apartheid Wines!”. We appreciate the support of Roger Waters, Libby Davies, former and current Vancouver city councillors, IJV members, local artists, lawyer Dimitri Lascaris and professor Sunera Thobani amongst others. (The list of endorsers to date follows the text of the letter.)

Text of Letter
To: BC Premier John Horgan
BC Finance Minister Selina Robinson

I am writing to express my outrage at the refusal of BC government officials to remove Israeli apartheid wines from publicly owned liquor stores. Your recent action in quickly putting a “…halt to the importing and sale of Russian liquor products” clearly demonstrates that your government can take decisive action. However, your unwillingness to do the same for Israeli wines shows a hypocritical double standard that smacks of racism.
Human rights activists in BC have sustained an on-going campaign for 14 years to have Israeli wines removed from liquor store shelves, most of which are linked to the Israeli settlement enterprise. They have detailed that the wines in question are either from the Golan Heights Winery and its joint venture the Galil Winery; or from the Israeli Teperberg Winery, which proudly displays a map on its website showing vineyards in occupied Palestinian territory.
Israeli settlements are illegal under the Fourth Geneva Convention and international humanitarian law. They are part and parcel of the systematic targeting of the Palestinian people for dispossession, occupation and apartheid for over 73 years. Last year, the New Democratic Party NDP of Canada passed a resolution that committed in part to end “all trade and economic cooperation with illegal settlements in Israel-Palestine”. The Canadian government also acknowledges the illegality of Israeli settlements in its official policy.
Further, major international and Israeli human right groups, including Amnesty International, have determined that Israel is committing the crime of apartheid. Therefore, I demand that the BC government immediately de-shelve Israeli wines from our publicly owned liquor stores; I do not wish to be made complicit in supporting apartheid.
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-bc-government-to-pull-israeli-apartheid-wines

Friends of the Campaign:

Anne Roberts
(former Vancouver City Councillor)
Dimitri Lascaris
(Lawyer, journalist and activist)
Earle Peach
(Director, Solidarity Notes choir)
Gurpreet Singh
(Independent journalist and activist/Cofounder of Radical Desi, an online magazine that covers alternative politics)
Jayce Salloum
(Artist and curator)
Jean Swanson
(Vancouver City Councillor)
John Soos
(PhD, clinical psychology)
Kevin Neish
(Retired vocational instructor, Mavi Marmara survivor)
Khaled Barakat
(Palestinian-Canadian writer and activist)
Khaled Loutfi Mouammar
(Palestinian Christian denied the right to return to his homeland because he is a non-Jew/Served on the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada 1994-2005)
Kimball Cariou
(former editor of People’s Voice)
Libby Davies
Natalie Knight
(Indigenous (Diné and Yurok) organizer and Chairperson of Friends of the Filipino People in Struggle)
Noah Gotfrit
(Musician, WCCARS member at large)
Pat Howard
(Retired Professor, Simon Fraser University)
Rehab Nazzal
(PhD, Artist and Lecturer, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver)
Rev. Marianna Harris
Rifat Audeh
(Canadian award-winning filmmaker and human rights activist)
Roger Waters
(Musician)
Sid Shniad
(Founding member, Independent Jewish Voices Canada)
Stephen Aberle
(Member of Independent Jewish Voices – Canada)
Sunera Thobani
(Professor, University of British Columbia)
Tim Louis
(Lawyer and former Vancouver City Councillor)

Vancouver, Victoria hold new actions to highlight #BoycottIsraeliWines

Send your letter now to support the campaign.

The campaign in British Columbia to Tell the BC Govt to Pull Israeli Apartheid Wines is gaining momentum. On March 26, activists were out on the streets in both Victoria and Vancouver to once again highlight the complicity of the BC government in Israeli war crimes. Both cities carried banners and signs calling on consumers to not support Israeli apartheid, and hundreds of flyers were handed out.

Further, over 800 concerned people have signed our action network letter that was started recently: the on-line version has collected 782 signatures so far and a further 47 signatures were collected when folks signed the letter in-person on March 26.

Friends of the Campaign

There is also a new “Friends of the Campaign” initiative, which will highlight notable friends and allies who have endorsed our letter campaign to “Tell BC Govt to Pull Israeli Apartheid Wines!”. Here is our initial list to date:

Anne Roberts
(former Vancouver City Councillor)
Dimitri Lascaris
(Lawyer, journalist and activist)
Earle Peach
(Director, Solidarity Notes choir)
Jayce Salloum
(Artist and curator)
Jean Swanson
(Vancouver City Councillor)
John Soos
(PhD, clinical psychology)
Kevin Neish
(Retired vocational instructor, Mavi Marmara survivor)
Khaled Barakat
(Palestinian-Canadian writer and activist)
Khaled Loutfi Mouammar
(Palestinian Christian denied the right to return to his homeland because he is a non-Jew/Served on the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada 1994-2005)
Kimball Cariou
(former editor of People’s Voice)
Libby Davies
Natalie Knight
(Indigenous (Diné and Yurok) organizer and Chairperson of Friends of the Filipino People in Struggle)
Noah Gotfrit
(Musician, WCCARS member at large)
Rehab Nazzal
(PhD, Artist and Lecturer, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver)
Rev. Marianna Harris
Rifat Audeh
(Canadian award-winning filmmaker and human rights activist)
Roger Waters
(Musician)
Sid Shniad
(Founding member, Independent Jewish Voices Canada)
Stephen Aberle
(Member of Independent Jewish Voices – Canada)
Sunera Thobani
(Professor, University of British Columbia)
Tim Louis
(Lawyer and former Vancouver City Councillor)

CPA 2021 Year in Review

2021 was a busy year for both Canada Palestine Association and BDS Vancouver, as the solidarity movement with Palestine grew in both depth and reach. The diverse base of support and unity for Palestinian rights was evidenced by the thousands of people who took to the streets in Vancouver in May/June to demand accountability from Israel and an end to Canadian complicity in Israeli war crimes. The theme of Canadian complicity ran through many of our 2021 campaigns, from demanding No Criminalization of Palestinian Advocacy by the Canadian government to exposing CBC’s outrageous “language guide” that censors the word Palestine to participating in the #IVotePalestine campaign holding Canadian politicians to account. Prisoner support and Boycott Israel actions were also a big part of our activities; boycott campaigns included Block the Boat rallies against the Israeli Zim shipping line, #BoycottPuma pickets and our signature Boycott Israeli Wines-Don’t Drink with Apartheid that has been calling out the BC government for over a decade on its war crimes profiteering.

We are strong believers in the principles of grassroots organizing and international solidarity, and 2021 showed that groups relying on activism are the heart and soul of the Palestinian solidarity movement. Together we march towards return and liberation!

Events and Campaigns: