A few highlights from over the years
Air Canada terminates their main contract with Israel Areospace Industries
Air Canada ends Complicity with Israel
This campaign launched in June 2017, built on a several year long campaign of the Canada Palestine Association. The Coalition campaign was international and also included strong labour support in Canada.
On November 5, 2017, the Canadian BDS Coalition announced that Air Canada had informed them that Air Canada had cancelled its contract with Israel Aerospace Industries midterm.
The Canadian BDS Coalition announced this as a partial victory as Air Canada continued with a small maintenance contract with Israel Aerospace Industries and still sold Sabra products on board. See release here.
Read our full report from 2016-2017
Don’t Dance on the Ruins of Palestinian Childhood
Over 10,000 signatures on the campaign when BC Ballet and two other organizations danced under sponsorship of the Government of Canada, and the cities of Vancouver and Montreal, at the Israeli CanaDanse Festival. The campaign initiated by Canada Palestine Association in Vancouver.
Not silenced
Canadian Court ruled that Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions activists were denied free speech and campaigning rights when the city of Montreal tore down their posters highlighting an Israeli atrocity during an election campaign in Canada. This action was brought forward by BDS Quebec a member of the Canadian BDS Coalition.
Read our full report from 2018
Raptors Don’t Go declared victory
The Canadian BDS Coalition in October 2019 announced that the #RaptorsDontGo campaign has been successful. Our campaign was launched in June 2019, immediately following the Raptors victory in the NBA championship; and after team co-owner Larry Tanenbaum received extensive coverage in the Israeli media stating he would bring the team to visit Israel if they won the championship. The Israeli Embassy in Ottawa highlighted the issue, and tweeted the Raptors promising “we’ll call you…to help with the arrangements”.
The Current is Cut Between Hydro-Québec and Israel Electric
On August 27, the Coalition BDS Québec, a member of the Canadian BDS Coalition, published a press release. Hydro Quebec immediately sent a letter , signed by its chief – Public Affairs and Media, stating that the decision not to renew the HQ-IEC agreement had no political impact, which we doubt strongly.
Read more including about the campaign aross the country.
Also in 2019 check out:
Partial Victory: Bombardier pulls out of Israeli settler railway
50+ Artists say Show Courage Céline
Read our full 2019 report
A few highlights from 2020
Ramadan 2020: Know where your dates are from!
Boycott TEVA – Apartheid is BAD Medicine
Read our full report 2020 report
The Founding of the Canadian BDS Coalition:
The inaugural conference call was held in April 2016, with the indication that there was interest in moving towards a shared Basis of Unity in support of the Palestinian civil society call for boycott, divestment and sanctions.
The Canadian BDS Coalition is composed of pro-Palestine solidarity groups across Canada and works independently in support of boycott, divestment and sanctions activities against Israel, within the Canadian context, addressing local challenges and concerns. Read the full Basis of Unity.
Learn more about the Coalition.
Over the five years there have been about 25 members groups from across Canada. See the current members and friends of the Coalition.