This position paper lists a number of actions that Canada should take to deal more efficiently with ISIS. This paper also insists on the importance of distinguishing between terrorist groups like ISIS and other militant Islamist groups of the Middle East. 

CJPME is pleased to publish the next of a 15 part election series analyzing the positions of Canada’s political parties. CJPME hopes that, by revealing what parties have said and done on key Middle East issues, Canadians will be better informed voters in the upcoming elections. Our next analysis studies each party’s position on Canada's militarily involvement against ISIS and its humanitarian commitment to Syria and Iraq.

Montreal, Sept. 1, 2015  — At a time of unprecedented turmoil in the Middle East, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) is pleased to announce an ambitious seven-city Canadian lecture tour by veteran foreign correspondent and author Robert Fisk.  Dr. Fisk’s lectures will be entitled “‘Goodbye, Mr Sykes! Adieu, M. Picot!’ How the ISIS ‘caliphate’ frightens the Middle East – and us.”  

This position paper seeks to better inform Canadian policy on four of the most well-known extremist groups in the Middle East: ISIS, Hezbollah, Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.  Through numerous examples, CJPME distinguishes the various groups from one another, and demonstrates how widely different approaches to each group must be developed.  The position paper attributes the rise of such groups to a number of destabilizing regional factors, and encourages Canada and its partners to address these underlying issues.   

Montreal, October 3, 2014  — CJPME urges Canadian MPs to remember that there are principled and more effective alternatives to putting “boots on the ground” in Iraq. CJPME believes that recent history has demonstrated that Western military action – without a significant and sustained humanitarian commitment – provides little or no long-term benefit.  

CJPME Factsheet 184, published September, 2014: This factsheet provides an overview of the so-called “Islamic State in Iraq and Syria” (ISIS): its emergence, its primary goals, and the source for its popular support in Iraq and Syria.  It also discusses its manner of funding and expanding its operations.

Montreal, August 25, 2014 — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) condemns human rights atrocities being committed by ISIS (“Islamic State of Iraq and Sham”), an armed extremist group, in northern Iraq. According to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, and other human rights groups, ISIS has been ruthlessly carrying out widespread ethnic and religious cleansing in the areas under its control. Its violations include targeted killings, forced conversions, abductions, trafficking, slavery, sexual abuse, destruction of religious and cultural sites, and the besieging of entire communities because of ethnic, religious or sectarian affiliation. Among those directly targeted are Christians, Yezidis, Shabaks, Turkomen, Kaka’e and Sabaeans.