Montreal, May 1, 2024 - CJPME has sent a letter to Ministers Champagne and Holland urging that Canada introduce support for Palestinian academics and recommend an academic boycott of Israel, directly modelled on Canada's March 2022 guidelines in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Click here to download the full letter as a PDF

Dear Minister Champagne and Minister Holland,

I am writing to you on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) to ask that you take concrete steps to address the crisis faced by the Palestinian scientific and educational community, especially in Gaza. Specifically, I ask that you urge federal granting agencies (the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada) to introduce support for Palestinian academics and recommend an academic boycott of Israel, directly modelled on your March 2022 guidelines in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.[i]

It has been nearly seven months since Israel launched its military siege on Gaza, which has killed over 34,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, with at least another 7,000 missing or under the rubble.[ii] The catastrophic and genocidal nature of Israel’s assault can be clearly observed in the impact on the Palestinian academic community. Since October 7, Israel has destroyed or damaged over 80% of Gaza’s schools, including every single one of Gaza’s 12 universities, and has killed more than 5,479 students, 261 teachers and 95 university professors. All schools in Gaza have remained out of operation for half a year, while students with international scholarships have been prevented from studying abroad.[iii] Education is a key social determinant of health and crucial to cultural continuity. It must be defended.

A recent statement from dozens of United Nations experts therefore warns that Israel’s actions may amount to “scholasticide,” which refers to “the systemic obliteration of education through the arrest, detention or killing of teachers, students and staff, and the destruction of educational infrastructure.” The UN experts urge the international community to “send a clear message that those who target schools and universities will be held responsible.”[iv]

Fortunately, the Canadian government has established an important precedent for how to respond to military threats facing the scientific community abroad. On March 11, 2022, you (or in the case of Minister Holland, your predecessor) made a statement in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in which you expressed your “deep solidarity with the people of Ukraine, including those in the scientific community, who are being threatened by the horrific attack on their country.” Further, you asked federal granting institutions CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC to establish special response funds to assist Ukrainian research trainees affected by the violence, and “to refrain from entering into agreements with Russian research institutions.”

In response to your request, the Presidents of CIHR, NSERC, and SSHRC, issued a joint statement announcing their commitment to act.[v] In addition to announcing the Special Response Fund for Trainees (Ukraine), the agencies committed to “refraining from entering into agreements with Russian research institutions” and to “work with Canada’s research institutions to ensure that no new collaborations with individual Russian researchers are established in areas that advance the interests of Vladimir Putin’s regime.” Going even further, NSERC committed to asking grant-holders “to suspend current, and prohibit future, federally funded research collaborations involving Russian industry, effective immediately.”

We are asking you to apply these same principles in this current context. Given the ICJ’s provisional measures related to the unfolding genocide in Gaza and Israel’s deliberate total destruction of Gaza’s university system, Canada has a responsibility to provide equitable measures of support to Palestinians.

Following the model of your statement in March 2022, we ask that you issue a statement expressing solidarity with the people of Palestine, including the scientific community, and formally ask the federal granting agencies to:

• Establish special response funds to assist Palestinian research trainees affected by the violence, by initiating or maintaining the employment or financial support of graduate students and postdoctoral researchers who are directly impacted by the crisis in Gaza and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories;[vi]
• Commit to refraining from entering into agreements with Israeli research institutions;
• Work with Canada’s research institutions to ensure that no new collaborations with individual Israeli researchers are established in areas that advance the interests of Israel’s regime;
• Ask grant-holders to suspend current, and prohibit future, federally funded research collaborations involving Israeli industry, effective immediately.

I note that in your March 2022 statement, you rightfully did not call for a “broad ban on collaborations with individual researchers” from Russia, but instead called to prohibit funding for collaborations “that could further the interests of Vladimir Putin’s regime.” This is generally consistent with the guidelines for the academic boycott of Israel, as elaborated by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), which targets complicity in the oppression of Palestinians, not individuals based on their identity.[vii] We expect the same thoughtful approach to be taken here.

I look forward to hearing from you regarding this urgent matter.

Sincerely,

Michael Bueckert, PhD

Vice President

Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East

[i] Government of Canada, “Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry and Minister of Health statement on additional measures in response to Vladimir Putin’s unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine,” March 11, 2022, https://www.canada.ca/en/innovation-science-economic-development/news/2022/03/minister-of-innovation-science-and-industry-and-minister-of-health-statement-on-additional-measures-in-response-to-russias-unjustifiable-invasion-o.html

[ii] United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, “Hostilities in the Gaza Strip and Israel - reported impact | Day 203,” April 26, 2024, https://www.ochaopt.org/content/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-reported-impact-day-203

[iii] United Nations, “UN experts deeply concerned over ‘scholasticide’ in Gaza,” April 18, 2024, https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/04/un-experts-deeply-concerned-over-scholasticide-gaza; Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, “Israel kills dozens of academics, destroys every university in the Gaza Strip,” January 20, 2024, https://euromedmonitor.org/en/article/6108/Israel-kills-dozens-of-academics,-destroys-every-university-in-the-Gaza-Strip; Al Jazeera, “How Israel has destroyed Gaza’s schools and universities,” January 24, 2024, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/24/how-israel-has-destroyed-gazas-schools-and-universities 

[iv] United Nations, “UN experts deeply concerned over ‘scholasticide’ in Gaza,” April 18, 2024, https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/04/un-experts-deeply-concerned-over-scholasticide-gaza

[v] Government of Canada, “A statement from the presidents of Canada’s federal research granting agencies to support Ukrainian research trainees,” last modified March 10, 2022, https://science.gc.ca/site/science/en/interagency-research-funding/interagency-news-announcements-and-statements/statement-presidents-canadas-federal-research-granting-agencies-support-ukrainian-research-trainees

[vi] This proposal is modelled after the Special Response Fund for Trainees (Ukraine), a temporary program that offered financial supplements for a period of up to 12 months, with maximum allowable amounts for up to $20,000 for Master’s level, $25,000 for Doctoral level and $45,000 for Postdoctoral level. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, last modified October 31, 2022, https://www.sshrc-crsh.gc.ca/funding-financement/programs-programmes/srft-fsas-ukraine-eng.aspx

[vii] PACBI Guidelines for the International Academic Boycott of Israel, July 9, 2014, https://bdsmovement.net/pacbi/academic-boycott-guidelines