#IVotePalestine Ontario provincial election: we are hearing back

 

Individuals from across Ontario have indicated they will be in touch with Candidates in their Electoral District. Keep up to date & join them HERE.

or you can download PDF election questionnaire to provide to Candidates

2022 election questionnaire

Read below the responses that we have received from candidates.

Also use these questionnaires to contact candidates by phone, when they or their canvassers come to your door, or at all candidates meetings or other venues.  

To date we have people making contact in 40+ of the 124 Electoral Districts in Ontario.

Please let us know about any contact you make and/or responses received

HERE

 

 

Update: we are getting responses from individual candidates. See below


Find your electoral district HERE

Ask your local candidates to complete the following questionnaire

https://bit.ly/IVotePalestineON

The following questions have been sent to the leaders of the following parties in Ontario in April.

Doug Ford, Ontario PC
Andrea Horwath, Ontario NDP
Steven Del Duca, Ontario Liberals
Mike Schreiner, Green Party of Ontario
Drew Garvie, Communist Party of Canada (Ontario)

Also, it has been provided to the individual candidates, of these parties, with the exception of the  PC which do not have individual candidate emails listed.

More recently, this letter has been provided to all registered parties.

Dear Leader

We hope you would answer the following questions in regard to your and your party’s stance on human rights and international law in regard to Palestine.

Ontario Election 2022 Questionnaire

“We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.” ? Nelson Mandela

We stand for freedom, justice and equality for the Palestinian people, and believe that “our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”

We note that successive Canadian governments were responsible for aiding and abetting Israeli ethnic cleansing, war crimes and apartheid. It is about time for the Canadian government as well as provincial and municipal  governments to stop their blind and unconditional support for Israel, which enables and maintains the ongoing Israeli violations of international law and Palestinian rights.

At the provincial level actions such as legislation, motions, order-in-councils and policy is used to restrict civil liberties and human rights for Palestinians and those who speak up in regard to Palestine.

We ask you to clarify where you and your party stand on the following points.

  • Recently human rights organizations, including Amnesty International,  the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem and Human Rights Watch (HRW), established that Israel is a racist apartheid state “from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea”.

Q1. Do you recognize the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality?

  • Canada has adopted the Israeli narrative regarding the Palestinian refugees’ right of return; its shameful position was to resettle Palestinian refugees rather than support their internationally recognized right to return.

Q2. Do you respect, protect and promote the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194?

  • While the Canadian Government pays lip service to the establishment of a Palestinian state, it opposes all UN General Assembly resolutions that call for facilitating such a state. Canada also gives Israel, the occupier, a veto power over such a state.

Q3. Do you support ending Israeli occupation and colonization of all Arab lands that were permitted to stand for 54 years, and dismantling the Wall, and support the necessary concrete measures to implement such a commitment?  

  • On February 22, 2016 the House of Commons passed a resolution that called “upon the government to condemn any and all attempts by Canadian organizations, groups or individuals to promote the BDS movement, both here at home and abroad.”  Ontario passed a motion in this regard on December 1, 2016.

Q4. Do you recognize the rights of Ontarians to support the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement as a non-violent strategy to force Israel to abide by UN resolutions and all international humanitarian laws? Would you consider repealing the 2016 anti-Palestinian/anti-BDS motion passed the Ontario legislature?

  • Canada, as a high signatory to the Fourth Geneva Convention, is required under Article 1to ensure the convention is upheld in all circumstances. Additionally, under the Special Economics Measures Act, Canadian law requires sanctions on countries that commit  “gross and systematic human rights violations”.

Q5. Are you prepared to support sanctions in this regard for Israel’s human rights violations against the people of Palestine?

  • Despite irrefutable evidence by respectable human rights organizations, the Canadian government continues to deny that Israel is an apartheid state. Further, although Canada sanctions 21 countries, 9 of them in the Middle East and most of them without due justification, Canada adamantly refuses to sanction Israel. Meanwhile, Canada has been quick to institute sanctions against Russia including sanctions at provincial level such as removing Russian alcohol from the LCBO.

Q6. Do you support government sanctions on Israel, including a bilateral military embargo, until it complies with international humanitarian law, the Fourth Geneva Convention and dismantles its apartheid regime?

  • Canada opposes the International Criminal Court investigation into Israeli war crimes. This is another example of Canada’s singling out Israel and shielding Israel from punishment for its war crimes and the crime of apartheid.

Q7. Do you support justice for the Palestinian people by holding Israel accountable for its ethnic cleansing, war crimes and apartheid?

Q8. Do you oppose the anti-Palestinian, anti-democratic and politically charged IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, and do you pledge to reverse this racist Ontario government position?

  • In February 2021, a pro-Israel lobby group tried to push the Canadian government to follow Israel’s lead and label a Palestinian prisoner support group as “terrorist”, thereby criminalizing Palestinian advocacy work in Canada. In 2003, the Canadian government added major Palestinian resistance organizations to its terrorist list, again in part due to pressure from Canadian Zionist organizations.

Q9. Do you oppose foreign countries influencing Canadian domestic policy, and would you work to reverse the listing of the Palestinian resistance organizations on the terrorist list? Do you feel Canada’s policies on these important issues should be decided by what the Israeli government dictates?

  • The Canadian Foreign Enlistment Act states, “Any person who, within Canada, recruits or otherwise induces any person or body of persons to enlist or to accept any commission or engagement in the armed forces of any foreign state or other armed forces operating in that state is guilty of an offence.”   A legal complaint was submitted to the Canadian Justice Minister who has indicated the RCMP is investigating. When York Students protested Israeli military being on campus in 2019, Premier Doug Ford condemned the Palestinians and others who were peacefully protesting the Israeli military being on campus.

Q. 10. Do you support the enforcement of the Canadian Foreign Enlistment Act? Would you ensure the police under provincial oversight would investigate if called upon in this regard?

Sincerely, The Canadian BDS Coalition

We wait to hear from these leaders and their parties, and will in future weeks be in touch with other parties and leaders, and candidates in local Electoral Districts.

For registered parties see HERE.

See Third Parties HERE.

Contact candidates in your Electoral District (ED)

Ontario PC

Ontario NDP

Ontario Liberals

Green Party of Ontario

Find all registered in your Electoral District (ED)  by finding your ED and then going to the List of Candidates (on left menu: https://voterinformationservice.elections.on.ca/en/election/search

We are hearing back

The following answered “yes” to all questions:

Kiran Fatima,  Toronto-Danforth, Communist Party of Canada (Ontario),

This is an endorsement from the Communist Party of Canada (Ontario). We stand with Palestine. You can visit our website at https://www.communistpartyontario.ca

Ivan Byard, Toronto Centre, Communist Party of Canada (Ontario)

Gunes Agduk, Parkdale – High Park, Communist Party of Canada (Ontario),

I have always personally been a supporter of the Palestinian resistance and am happy to support all of these extremely reasonable demands. Whether elected or not I will always work to spread awareness of the Palestinian freedom struggle in Parkdale and beyond, and support in anyway I possibly can.

Christian Shingiro, Waterloo, Communist Party of Canada (Ontario)

As a candidate in the election, I have to say that Israel should be treated as a rogue nation, and white supremacy in the Middle East must come to an end. We must also recognize and support the movements fighting against it, rather than list them as terrorist organizations.

Nigel Cheriyan, Hamilton Centre, Communist Party of Canada (Ontario), @nigelcheriyan

Solidarity!

Larry Wasslen, Ottawa South, Communist Party of Canada (Ontario), @larrywasslen

Free Palestine

Jack Copple, Davenport, Communist Party of Canada (Ontario)

Drew Garvie, Beaches-East York, Communist Party of Canada (Ontario)

Our party has supported the demands of the international Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment movement for over a decade and recognize the immediate need to work to build the solidarity movement with Palestine. Thank you for the work you are doing in raising these demands in this election.

Jennifer Moxon, Toronto Danforth, Communist Party of Canada (Ontario)

I fully support, as does my party, all of the above and always will until Palestine is Free.

Rin Simon, St. Catharines, Communist Party of Canada (Ontario)

The colonial forces that the Palestinian people face and their struggle is close to my heart. As an Indigenous person living in so called Canada I see the acts of colonial-dispossession by the Israeli State in line with what Canada has done to my own people and many other Indigenous nations across Turtle Island. We must oppose colonialism in all of its forms and fight for the liberation of all colonized peoples from imperialist encroachment and dismantle the systems colonization that persist globally. My heart is with the Palestinian people as it is with all peoples struggle against colonialism. Miigwech.

Juanita Burnett, Guelph, Communist Party of Canada (Ontario)

See https://communistpartyontario.ca/

Green Party of Ontario candidates provide strong support for Palestine

Catherine Kiewning, Kenora-Rainy River, The Green Party of Ontario

Answered yes to all questions, except #9 which asked question around if within mandate of an MPP.  

I absolutely support Palestinian human rights and want to see an end the illegal occupation of Palestine by Israel. It is not anti-Semitic to want to hold Israel accountable for the ethnic-cleansing and apartheid that is happening in Palestinian territories. The State of Israel has been actively colonizing Palestinian land, forcing evictions of Palestinian people from their homes through brutal force and violence. Amnesty International has deemed the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land to be illegal, unethical and akin to apartheid. This has been going on for decades.

David Weber, Kitchener South – Hespeler, The Green  Party of Ontario

Answered yes to Questions 1 to 8. For Question 9 indicated “In general yes. To make a blanket statement about all organizations of resistance may lead to problems in certain individual cases: and for Question 10, “I need more information and hope to learn in the near future. ” 

Israeli settlements of occupied Palestinian Territory is against international law.

Candidate for Davenport, Nafeesa Alibhai, announced she no longer running as Green Party refused to withdraw support for “Islamophobic and anti-Palestinian organization”

 

Responded but did not answer questions

Walter Alvarez Bardales, Liberal Party, York—Simcoe

All I can say, for now, is that I have a great love for the Palestinian people, in fact in the international politics competition I spoke about the suffering of Palestinian children. I believe that peace can be achieved in this generation. The Palestinian children remind me of my own childhood living in the midst of a civil war.

Ostap Soroka, Don Valley North, Green Party of Ontario

I strongly and committedly support all equity deserving individuals and groups seeking truth, reconciliation, and restitution. I unwaveringly support human rights and international law.  gpo.ca/ostap-soroka

Philip James Piluris, Vaughan-Woodbridge, Green Party of Ontario

Thank you for reaching out to me, I am always glad to see passionate members of our community speak out on the issues that we all face.

Full disclosure: I am neither Palestinian nor Israeli, or related to the matter in any manner. I have no claim to the issues spoken of, and I cannot speak on how any side feels, or on what is owed to whom.

With that out of the way, I have absolutely no tolerance for discrimination, prejudice, or hateful behaviour. There are issues we face in this world that cannot be solved by any one nation; from climate change to feeding a rapidly growing population. We all need to work together to solve the issues we face, and it is impossible while nations cannot peacefully coexist.

Allow me to share some of my story. I am Macedonian-Canadian, and my people, the Macedonians, are still struggling for acknowledgment on the world stage. My great-grandparents were thrown in jail because they refused to speak the language of their oppressors. My grandparents were forced to flee their villages, and watched as they were burned to the ground. My parents came to Canada seeking a fresh start, but the wounds of the past never fade. My people have been the victims of genocide, and to this day I cannot in good conscience condone the actions of any nation that oppresses another.

I pledge to defend the rights of all people, and stamp out oppression in all its forms.

Never give up on what you believe in, we are all in this life together.

We also heard from one Libertarian candidate who was against money being spent by the Ontario government on supporting work related to foreign affairs including pro-Israel, and an Ontario Party who has a Palestinian friend impacted by what they referenced as expropriation and hopes to follow up post election.

Public Meet Candidates meetings were held in Southwestern Ontario

Hikma Public Affairs council has arranged for a Meet The Candidates series of events
We join their call in asking community members to attend these events and to make sure they make their voices heard and to ask the questions on their mind, including questions on foreign policy and Palestine

London North Centre – London Muslim Mosque – Saturday May 28th from 3:30pm – 5pm.

London Fanshawe – Islamic Centre of Southwestern Ontario – Sunday May 29th from 1:45pm – 3:15pm.

Elgin Middlesex London – Islamic Centre of Southwestern Ontario – Sunday May 29th from 3:30 – 5pm.

Come and ask your questions to the candidates in your riding.
please share with your family and friends

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