Montreal, June 15, 2026 — A new national survey conducted by Nanos Research, on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME), reveals that a majority of Canadians support reforming Canada’s trade policy with Israel, with respondents differing on whether to remove trade benefits from Israel’s illegal settlements in Palestine or cancel the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement (CIFTA) outright. CJPME urges the Government of Canada to respond to Canadian public opinion by rapidly reforming its current trade policy with Israel’s illegal colonies on Palestinian territories by taking broad-based economic measures against settlements.
Click here to download the report with survey results
When asked about the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement (CIFTA), 26% of Canadians said that it should be cancelled outright, while another 28% said it should be reformed to “ensure that it does not apply to goods produced in Israeli settlements.” Only 26% of Canadians said the agreement should be maintained “as is” and the remaining 20% expressed uncertainty on the matter. Canadians were also two times more likely to believe it is unacceptable to some extent to allow products from Israeli settlements to receive tariff-free access to Canada.
Nanos Research also found that two-in-five Canadians (41%) believe that Canada should do more to “sanction Israeli settlements in Palestine.” When asked if they believe human rights should be important when Canada considers starting or maintaining a trade relationship with another country, a considerable 86% of Canadians said it should be at least somewhat important.
“Canadian public opinion is clear, we want more done to stop Israel’s annexation of Palestine, even if this means re-thinking our trading relationship with Israel,” said Yara Shoufani, President of CJPME. “Canadians have borne witness to both a live-streamed genocide in Gaza and a violent ethnic cleansing campaign in the West Bank, and they are demanding more from Canada to stop these atrocities.”
Under CIFTA, goods originating in the illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory are falsely categorized as “Israeli” and given preferential trade benefits. CJPME has long warned that this policy violates international law, including the 2024 Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice, and provides material support for Israel’s unlawful settlement enterprise. CJPME has urged the Government of Canada to address this problem by cancelling CIFTA and banning trade in goods and services with Israel’s illegal settlements
Canada and allied governments, including the United Kingdom, Australia and the European Union, have so far taken a ‘bad apples’ approach to Israel’s settlements by imposing targeted sanctions in response to extremist settler violence and criminal property destruction in the West Bank. However, under international law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention, an occupying power cannot transfer its civilian population into occupied territory or permanently alter its character absent absolute necessity; doing so is considered a war crime. This means all settlements are illegal and all settlers are participating in a systemic level war crime, regardless of whether it's violent or not
“Canadians are clearly aware this is one of the most incoherent areas in Canadian foreign policy,” said Alex Paterson, Senior Director at CJPME. “At the same time as sanctioning extremist violent settlers and holding a policy that all settlements are war crimes, Canada offers free trade benefits to those same Israeli settlements through CIFTA. It's a completely baffling policy framework that Canadians want Minister Anand to urgently correct with stronger sanctions on all settlements.”
About the research – Nanos conducted an RDD dual frame (land- and cell-lines) hybrid telephone and online random survey of 1044 Canadians, 18 years of age or older, between May 31st and June 2nd, 2026. The margin of error for this survey is ±3.0 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. This study was commissioned by CJPME and the research was conducted by Nanos Research. To view the full report on the Nanos website, click here.