UPDATE: Richmond City Council has listened to the many community voices saying #NoIHRA; the motion to adopt the IHRA was withdrawn prior to their Dec. 19 meeting.
This is a victory for Palestinian rights and free speech. Great effort by all those who worked to achieve this outcome.
Following is the text of a letter sent by CPA Chair on December 16, 2022.… Read more
In his November 2022 Inbox, the CBC Ombudsman chose to comment on CBC’s coverage of Vancouver’s recent adoption of the IHRA; he did so before issuing his final report on an ongoing review, and clearly without any understanding of either the IHRA definition itself nor the dynamics of what happened at Vancouver City Council. Once again, it seems the CBC Ombudsman will fail the Palestinian community, similar to his 2021 ruling that the CBC “language guide” censoring the word Palestine was “reasonable”.… Read more
On November 16, the new Vancouver City Council adopted the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, despite a massive community pushback that has pledged to keep support of Palestine visible and vocal going forward. The main objective of the IHRA definition is to legitimize Israel and to slander all those who expose its illegal and inhumane activities, putting a chill on the Palestinian solidarity work and covering up for Israeli war crimes.… Read more
On November 16, despite strong and diverse opposition, Vancouver City Council adopted the dangerous and divisive IHRA definition. The IHRA is designed to “chill” speech on Palestine and institutionalizes anti-Palestinian racism.
Canada Palestine Association is grateful for all the speakers who took the time to express their opposition to the IHRA in front of council before the vote. They represented the best of Vancouver and showed that our voices will not be silenced.… Read more
Action Alert:
Here is the text of the motion introduced to Vancouver City Council. We encourage all supporters to sign up to speak against the motion either in-person or by phone through this link. #NoIHRA
Update: The BC Civil Liberties Association put out a letter on Nov. 7 reaffirming that they “are strongly opposed to the IHRA definition because of its threat to freedom of expression”.… Read more
