Montreal, September 23, 2020  — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) is alarmed by recent actions of the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law that amount to censorship of critical scholarship about Israel. The university has been widely criticized for allegedly rescinding a job offer to human rights professor Valentina Azarova after a sitting judge on the Tax Court of Canada — and a major donor to the faculty — complained about Azarova’s scholarship on the Israeli occupation of Palestine. According to the Globe and Mail, the judge who intervened is Justice David Spiro, a former board member of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs. The position that Azarova was denied was director of the law school’s International Human Rights Program (IHRP).

Montreal, February 23, 2015 — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East urges caution in regards to the Conservative government’s new anti-terror legislation, known as Bill C-51. The legislation proposes lowering the threshold for arrest, criminalizing the promotion of terrorism, expanding the no-fly list, and allowing the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) the ability to disrupt and counter-message suspected terror activity. While the Harper government has promoted the bill as way to protect Canadians against “violent jihadism,” many are arguing that the legislation unduly curtails Canadian freedoms and privacy.

Montreal, February 4, 2015  — During his visit to the Middle East last month, Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird signed a number of agreements with the State of Israel, among them a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) regarding diplomatic cooperation. While the memorandum covers a variety of topics, including advocating the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the document also touches on limiting criticism of Israel, which it identifies as “the new face of anti-Semitism.” While the MOU is vague, it has the potential of being interpreted very broadly.  As such, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) criticizes the MOU as having the potential to dangerously curtail public debate. 

Montreal, June 18, 2014 — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) joins other pro-human rights organizations across Canada in support of the continued showing of the “Invisible” exhibition at Ottawa city hall. Invisible calls attention – through art – to the thousands of Palestinians who have died premature and obscure deaths under Israeli military occupation. In the Palestinian-Canadian artist’s own words, Invisible is “a protest in honour of remembrance” of her people and homeland.

This position paper discusses several points regarding how the Canadian government should handle the Israeli Apartheid Week.

CJPME Factsheet 79, published April, 2010: This factsheet looks at how freedom of expression is protected in Canada, as well as what constitutes hate speech and what laws pertain to it in Canada, particularly Section 318 and Section 319 of the Canadian Criminal Code. This factsheet also addresses the question of whether criticism of Israel can be equated with hate speech.

CJPME Factsheet 55, published March, 2009: This factsheet provides an overview of the Canadian Arab Federation (CAF), which is composed of over 40 member organizations and strives to raise awareness of issues impacting the Canadian Arab community. Conservative MP Jason Kenney announced in March 2009 that – as Minister of Citizenship and Immigration – he would eliminate federal funding for CAF, which he has accused as being a racist organization because of its criticism of the current Israeli regime. Kenney, however, has never provided proof for his accusations despite requests to do so.