Montreal, July 30, 2025 — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) is calling on Prime Minister Mark Carney to finally commit to recognizing a Palestinian state and imposing a two-way arms embargo on Israel. According to the IPC, the worst-case scenario of famine is playing out in the Gaza Strip, and Israel is obstructing all real efforts for long term peace. It's now time for a major shift in Canada’s approach to Palestine and Israel.
“If Canada still truly believes in a two-state solution, then the time is now to recognize Palestinian statehood,” said Alex Paterson, Senior Director with CJPME. “The Middle East Peace Process, if it isn’t dead, is on life support. It is being killed by Israel’s intensifying occupation and rapid erasure of territorial integrity of Palestine with Jewish-only settlements. Carney should proudly stand beside Starmer and Macron and affirm Palestinian statehood.”
Since becoming Prime Minister, Mark Carney has held a contradictory position on statehood. During the last federal election Carney said he wouldn't recognize two states. However, in a joint statement with the UK and France in May, the Prime Minister said “we are committed to recognizing a Palestinian state as a contribution to achieving a two-state solution and are prepared to work with others to this end.” This raised the possibility that the three countries would make an announcement at the UN conference. Despite this, later reports suggested that Canada and the UK put pressure on Macron not to recognize Palestine and back out of the conference. France has since committed to recognition in September, with the UK following suit if Israel does not agree to a ceasefire.
This UN Conference on the two-state solution is meant to develop a globally supported solution to lasting peace between Israel and Palestine based on the International Court of Justice advisory opinion on the illegality of Israel’s occupation of Palestine, and the subsequent legal consequences for third party states. In September 2024 the General Assembly passed a resolution that affirmed ICJ ruling that Israel’s occupation is illegal and calling for it to end within a year. Canada shamefully abstained on that resolution.
“In addition to recognition, Canada also must urgently impose a two-way arms embargo on Israel,” insisted Paterson. “Recognition is worthless if Palestinians in Gaza are all killed by starvation and massacres. Recognition has to be part of a broader policy framework that includes an arms embargo. What’s the point of recognizing a state if all of its people are killed or displaced with the weapons we make?”
On July 29, a devastating new report, revealed at a Parliament on showed that the Federal government deceived Canadians by hiding the fact it’s been quietly supporting Israel's genocidal assault on Gaza. Despite repeated claims that Canada had stopped sending weapons to Israel, the report's evidence demonstrated a continuous flow of Canadian military goods directly to Israel. To date, the report reveals that Canadian official's public statements on arms exports are a part of a pattern of lies to confuse the public and conceal the grim reality of Canada's role in enabling the killing of over 60,000 Palestinians since October 2023.
Despite the Canadian government's calculated campaign of deceiving the public, Canada has continued to arm Israel’s systematic campaign of active military bombing, and starving of Palestinians in Gaza, which are in violation of both domestic laws and international laws.
“We have reached the end of line for Global Affairs Canada’s policy of misdirection,” said Paterson. “Canadians are now aware that the government has continued to arm Israel despite its statements to the contrary. The Prime Minister can no longer trick the public into believing they want a ceasefire but keep arming Israel.”