CJPME is so proud to be part of the Palestine solidarity movement in Canada over this past year.  Despite the world's indifference to a genocide in Palestine, the movement in Canada has been unwavering!  While we remain heartbroken for all that has been lost and destroyed in Palestine and Lebanon, we must be proud of all that we've collectively accomplished and proven in Canada.  Below is a quick recap of some of the ways CJPME has stood up for justice for Palestinians and others in 2024. 

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Every week, CJPME published comprehensive lists of pro-Palestinian demonstrations across Canada (see example.)  We salute the CJPME and other grassroots leaders who organized and led these demonstrations, rain, or shine, or snow.  We also salute the hundreds of thousands of Canadians who came out week after week to tell our political leaders that Israel's violence in Gaza must end.  Our work is not over, but the Canadian government has shifted positions significantly, as demonstrated in our analysis of Canada's UN voting patterns.

While hundreds of thousands were in the streets, hundreds of thousands enabled the success of our various campaigns.  Next week we'll provide an update on the success of our many campaigns, but to highlight a few, we pressured the Trudeau government to fix its Gaza visa program, to support the ICC arrest warrant for Netanyahu, to support Palestinian statehood, to stop Israel's assault on Lebanon, to end the genocide in Gaza, to end its arms sales to Israel, to support Palestinian refugees, and to support South Africa's ICJ case accusing Israel of genocide. 

Our campaigns in 2024 were also instrumental in supporting the student divestment protests at McGill and Concordia, UBC and UVic, UofOttawa, UofT and other universities. While most of our campaigns were email focused, several enabled people to call MPs and Ministers!  And we shouldn't forget our BDS sticky notes campaign, where we sent 3000 pads of BDS sticky notes to people across the country!

We also fought for Palestine on Parliament Hill.  CJPME is the only registered lobby organization in Ottawa that focuses its efforts full-time on Palestinian rights. Between October 2023 and September 2024, CJPME had 84 one-on-one meetings or calls with politicians from the Liberals, NDP, Green, and Bloc Quebecois, as well as political staff and civil servants. This was an increase of 280% over the previous year.  CJPME also spoke to Parliament’s Foreign Affairs committee to make a case for why Canada should immediately recognize Palestinian statehood. You can watch or read CJPME’s remarks, or read the additional written brief.  See our 2024 summary of lobbying activities here.  

We're also so proud of our media advocacy work, and the hundreds of "Media Responders" who helped us improve media coverage on Palestine.  CJPME staff addressed issues of coverage in hundreds of articles and broadcasts, and sent over 70 media alerts. Our "Media Responders," in turn, wrote literally thousands of unique and personalized letters to media.  In the end, CJPME and its secret army of "Media Responders" got factual errors and media fabrications fixed, got letters and op-eds published, changed false headlines, got maps replaced, and misleading terminology updated.  See our Media Accountability Project website for more details.

Of course, CJPME is extremely active and growing on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Tiktok, and has been hosting the amazing podcast "Palestine Debrief" since 2020, available on all the major podcast platforms.

On the research, analysis and policy side, CJPME was also a leader.  This year we published three major reports:

• Earlier this month, we co-published a report on anti-Palestinian racism (APR) in Canada in conjunction with the Anti-Racism program of the CJPME Foundation (ARPCF.)  It identified 988 incidents of APR in Canada in 2023, and provided revealing analyis of the trends.
• In September, we issued a report on the problems with the Gaza Visa Program, titled “Intended to Fail: Systemic Anti-Palestinian Racism and Canada’s Gaza Temporary Resident Visa Program.”
• In June, we issued a report called “Defaming the Pro-Palestine Movement: Looking at the Public Commentary of Canada's Special Envoy Deborah Lyons,” exposing how Special Envoy Lyons has consistently spread misinformation about pro-Palestine protestors to demonize the movement.

CJPME also published Position Papers with specific recommendations for how Canada should end the arms trade with Israel; how Canada should adopt a “whole-of-government” approach to ending Canadian involvement in Israeli settlements; and how Canada should address its complicity in the ongoing Nakba in Palestine. Finally, CJPME issued joint recommendations alongside partners for how Canada’s federal Anti-Racism Strategy should address antisemitism, Islamophobia, and anti-Palestinian racism together using an intersectional framework.

CJPME issued over 75 press releases, covering a wide range of issues including challenging Canada’s arms to Israel, opposing Canada’s defunding of UNRWA, calling on Canada to support various ICJ and ICC initiatives, calling out biased media coverage, raising the alarm of Israeli foreign influence, and more. Some notable examples include:

• CJPME condemns Canada’s suspension of UNRWA funding as collective punishment (January 27)
• CJPME: ATIP Response Confirms Joly Misleading the Public about Weapons Sales to Israel since Oct. 7 (February 10)
• Parliament votes to end arms exports to Israel in watered-down motion: CJPME (March 18)
• Canada must insist that Israel end man-made famine in Gaza: CJPME (April 1)
• Canada must cancel contracts for weapons used in Israeli killing of Canadian aid worker (April 4)
• CJPME refutes faulty reports of Iranian influence over pro-Palestine protests (June 5)
• Canada must block $83.7M transfer of explosives to Israel: Peace groups (August 15)
• CJPME concerned by media coverage of anti-Palestinian incident at Sir Robert Borden High School (November 18)

CJPME does not send its PRs to its main list, to avoid email fatigue from our followers.  However, if you are keen to see all our statements, you may subscribe for our press statements here.

CJPME wrote various letters pressuring government ministers with specific recommendations for how they should hold Israel accountable. Some of these include:

• Letter urging Minister Virani to investigate Canadian nationals who are serving or volunteering with the Israeli military in its war on Gaza (January 18)
• Letter urging Ministers Champagne and Holland to respond to scholasticide in Gaza by recommending an academic boycott of Israel (May 1)
• Letter urging Minister LeBlanc end to collaboration with Israel's Ministry of National Security, led by far-right Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir (July 5)
• Letter urging Prime Minister Trudeau to comply with the ICJ Advisory Opinion on Israel’s illegal occupation (July 25)
• Letter urging Minister Joly to respond to Israel’s “Generals’ Plan” and ethnic cleansing in Gaza (October 18)

CJPME also issued 12 Factsheets In 2024, including on the ICC arrest warrants, systemic anti-Palestinian racism, Canada’s sanctions on Israeli settlers, and the case for recognizing Palestinian statehood. Many of the factsheets focus on specific boycott campaigns, including Keter Plastic, Hewlett-Packard (HP), SodaStream, Ahava, Aroma Espresso Bar, Starbucks, Sabra, and Aldo.

CJPME has also been outspoken on anti-Palestinian racism and the smearing of the solidarity movement as antisemitic.  In addition to the report and factsheet on anti-Palestinian racism mentioned above, CJPME published an analysis of the racist nature of the visa program for Palestinians in Gaza with connections to Gaza.  CJPME also launched a campaign in anticipation of the government's "IHRA handbook" smearing pro-Palestine activism.  We also campaigned for the removal of the handbook's author, Deborah Lyons.

Thanks for partnering with us to make all of the above possible, both through your participation, and through your financial support.

Can you support our work?

CJPME's impact on all these fronts is only possible through the generosity of donors. If you believe in what CJPME is doing to influence politicians and politics, please consider making a gift of financial support to CJPME.  Our work depends entirely on private donations. Monthly donations are especially helpful, as they sustain our ongoing work and make it easier for us to strategize for the future. If you don't like to donate by credit card, you may donate via email transfer, over the phone (438-380-5410), or complete and mail in this form. Thank you.