Human rights advocates call on Canada to recognize Palestinian State
3 Min Read
The news comes as Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was recently accused of being complicit in the genocide in Gaza.
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks to the United Nations General Assembly during the Summit of the Future, at UN headquarters in New York in September 2024. (AP)
Human rights campaigners organized a news conference in Ottawa on Saturday to commemorate the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.
During the event, they urged the Canadian government to officially recognize Palestine as a state, impose sanctions on high-ranking Israeli officials, and establish a complete arms embargo.
Ganiyat Sadiq (Justice For All Canada), Monalisa Ghadban (Films4Falasteen), Yipeng Ge (primary care doctor), and Sam Hersh (Independent Jewish Voices), spoke with reporters as they made statements condemning Canada which they called a settler colonial state, for its treatment of pro-Palestine protesters, and for its ties with "Israel".
According to Sadiq, "for every day that Canada delays recognizing Palestine," more lives are lost and the crisis worsens.
She added that Canada had the opportunity to align its policies with principles of justice, human rights, and international law.
Sadiq noted that Canada's government policy is in support of a two-state solution, which she called contradictory if one state is not recognized.
"Negotiating a two-state-solution is impossible if one of those states is not acknowledged," Sadiq urged, demanding that Canada uphold international law and prevent further loss of life.
Medical workers accuse Trudeau of complicity in genocide
The event comes days after a group of Canadian healthcare professionals accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's administration of complicity in "Israel's" genocide in Gaza through inactivity.
"One year ago, we demanded that the Government of Canada publicly demand for a cease-fire, that the Canadian government publicly condemn Israel for targeting hospitals and health-care workers, and that the Government of Canada publicly condemn Israel for widespread violations of international humanitarian law, including the crime of genocide," Ben Thomson, a public health, nephrology, and general internal medicine doctor, said at a news conference Tuesday on Parliament.
Thomson, who was most recently in Gaza in September 2023 and March 2024, said the Trudeau government rejected their demands and denied a follow-up meeting about them.
He described how the Canadian government's complicity and failure to hold "Israel" accountable resulted in tens of thousands of dead Palestinian women and children, reiterating that the occupation murdered 18,000 children in the least.
Thomson referred to the ongoing Gaza war as "genocide" and urged Canadian media to "stop censoring this word" and not be "shy" about saying it.
He also criticized the Canadian government's "inaction" on the Gaza slaughter, calling on officials to do their jobs and end the atrocity rather than "listen to the Israel lobby groups," which he described as "foreign interference."
In early August, a group of 19 Canadian physicians sent an open letter to the Canadian government, asking for quick action to address the humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip and requested compliance with international humanitarian law and the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) verdicts on Gaza.
