Montreal, May 6, 2024 — Canadian human rights organizations today issued recommendations for Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy to ensure that the federal government is effectively addressing both anti-Palestinian racism and antisemitism. Canadian Heritage’s updated Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy is expected to be published this spring. Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME), the Arab Canadian Lawyers Association (ACLA), the Canadian Muslim Public Affairs Council (CMPAC), and Independent Jewish Voices Canada (IJV) are calling for these materials to include anti-Palestinian racism, which has drastically intensified in the last few months.

On Saturday, a coalition of student groups in solidarity with Palestine began a protest encampment on the McGill Campus. Among their demands, the students have called on the university to divest “from all complicit companies and cut all academic ties with Israeli institutions.” When the students refused to leave until their demands were met, McGill President Deep Saini threatened police intervention. The McGill Administration must listen to the students' demands and divest from Israeli institutions complicit in the oppression of the Palestinian people!

CJPME Factsheet 238, created December 2023: This revised and updated factsheet explains why the Palestine solidarity movement in Canada has been calling for boycott of Indigo Books & Music Inc., since 2006. It outlines how the founder and CEO of Indigo Heather Reisman co-founded the HESEG Foundation for Lone Soldiers, which encourages foreigners to join the Israeli army and continue their studies in Israel. The factsheet also explores additional ties between HESEG and the Israeli military.