Montreal, December 7, 2020  — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) and the Coalition of Canadian Palestinian Organizations (CCPO) are urging the Canadian government to vote in support of an upcoming resolution on the status of Jerusalem at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). The resolution rejects Israel’s unilateral annexation of Jerusalem, and calls for the concerns of both Palestinians and Israelis to be considered when negotiating the final status of Jerusalem. The resolution is expected to be considered by the plenary later this week, alongside the final votes on a series of related annual resolutions. Continue reading

Copied below is a letter from CJPME to Stephen Lecce, Ontario's Minister of Education, on December 3, 2020. In the letter, CJPME criticizes the Minister's decision to ban a video blog from Ontario schools due to its Palestinian perspective, which the Minister falsely characterized as "anti-Israel and antisemitic."  CJPME warns that this amounts to the censorship of Palestinian voices and experiences. Click here to read a PDF version of the letter.  Continue reading

Montreal, December 2, 2020  — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) is highly critical of the resumption of Canada’s anti-Palestinian voting at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). At today’s plenary session on the “Question of Palestine,” Canada voted against four resolutions in support of Palestinian human rights, all of which were overwhelmingly approved by the rest of the international community. Like many Canadians, CJPME had hoped that Canada’s vote in support of Palestinian self-determination two weeks ago would be followed by other votes reaffirming Palestinian rights and aspirations. Continue reading

To the Right Honorable Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, The following letter is sent to you on behalf of the Coalition of Canadian Palestinian Organizations (hereinafter referred to as the “Coalition”) in response to the government’s recent decision to appoint a Special Envoy designated to preserve Holocaust remembrance and combating antisemitism through the implementation of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (hereinafter referred to as “IHRA”) working definition of antisemitism. We are deeply concerned with the government’s recent decision regarding the advancement of the IHRA working definition of antisemitism through the Special Envoy and wish to outline the repercussions that this may have on Canadian Palestinians. Continue reading

Montreal, November 24, 2020  — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) and the Coalition of Canadian Palestinian Organizations (CCPO) are urging the Canadian government to take action in response to the crisis facing the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the UN agency responsible for 5.7 million Palestinians refugees. CJPME and the CCPO are calling on Canada to renew and increase its annual support for UNRWA, provide the agency with emergency financial assistance, and to vote in support of Palestinian refugees at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Continue reading

Montreal, November 19, 2020  — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) applauds Canada’s decision to once again vote in support of Palestinian self-determination at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). The resolution was overwhelmingly adopted 163-5 at the UN’s Third Committee and will now go to the UNGA plenary for a final vote. Earlier this month, CJPME and the Coalition of Canadian Palestinian Organizations had urged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to repeat his vote, and more than 3,000 Canadians wrote to the government to stand up for Palestine at the UNGA. Continue reading

(Image: Robert Fisk playfully embraces a polar bear in Victoria, BC, ahead of CJPME speaking event in October 2019) Montreal, November 4, 2020 – Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) is saddened by the death of veteran Middle East journalist Robert Fisk. CJPME had the privilege to host Fisk on cross-Canada speaking tours on three different occasions: in 2013, in 2016 and in mid-November of last year. “With Robert’s death, the world has lost a champion for diligent and authentic journalism,” announced Thomas Woodley, President of CJPME.  Continue reading

Montreal, November 3, 2020  — New statements from Ontario MPPs suggest that when Ontario suddenly adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism, that it also adopted the IHRA’s controversial “illustrative examples” which conflate Israel and Zionism with antisemitism. This contradicts previous claims by Ontario MPP Kaleed Rasheed, who had told Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) and other civil society organizations in a Zoom meeting that the examples had been excluded. CJPME warns that the IHRA definition therefore continues to be major threat to free speech, political expression, and academic freedom in Ontario. Continue reading

On October 26th, 2020, the Government of Ontario unilaterally adopted the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism (IHRA-WDA) by means of Order in Council 1450/2020. This move occurred just prior to public hearings on Bill 168 – a private Member’s bill which would have written the IHRA-WDA, including its problematic list of illustrative examples, into law. Bill 168 therefore appears to have been abandoned.  While we raise serious concerns with regards to process and note that much remains to be understood about the implications of the Order in Council, it would appear that the outcome of all this amounts to a partial win for defenders of human rights and freedom of expression.  Continue reading

Montreal, October 30, 2020 — Conservative Ontario MPP Kaleed Rasheed (Mississauga East—Cooksville) has confirmed that Ontario’s recent Order in Council (OIC) adopted only the main text of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, and that the associated “illustrative examples” were deliberately excluded. In a Zoom meeting with CJPME and other community groups, Rasheed stated: “Rest assured, the definition as adopted by the Order in Council does not include the IHRA definition’s ‘illustrative examples.’” This is significant because over half of the IHRA’s illustrative examples mention Israel or Zionism, and therefore conflate antisemitism with most forms of criticism and protest of Israel. Continue reading