City of Brampton becomes an Apartheid Free Community

Congratulations to the City of Brampton on becoming the first city in Ontario to support the Apartheid-Free Communities pledge

In a landmark decision the Brampton City Council voted to support the Apartheid-Free Communities Pledge in principle, positioning the city as the first in Ontario to take a formal stand against providing material support for isreali apartheid in Palestine. 1

According to the motion passed by council, the City of Brampton has agreed to review its contracts and investments before formalizing the signing of the pledge. This process will determine whether municipal funds are currently supporting entities complicit in what human rights organizations have labeled apartheid.

The vote, which passed on March 11, 2026, marks the culmination of months of grassroots organizing by Brampton4Palestine and a coalition of allied groups.

The work leading to this success did not happen by chance,” said organizers with Brampton4Palestine in an Instagram statement following the vote. “This happened because our community canvassed neighbourhoods, called councillors, showed up at City Hall, and refused to be silent. This victory belongs to every single person who organized, who spoke up, and who believed that Bramptonians would stand firmly in support of human rights and the end to oppressive systems. 2

What is the Apartheid-Free Communities Pledge?

The Apartheid-Free Communities campaign originated in 2022, following an emerging consensus among the international human rights community regarding Israel’s treatment of Palestinians . An interdenominational coalition of faith groups in North America, convened by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) came together to organize the pledge.3

The pledge itself is built on four core commitments:

  1. WE AFFIRM our commitment to freedom, justice, and equality for the Palestinian people and all people
  2. WE OPPOSE all forms of racism, bigotry, discrimination, and oppression
  3. WE DECLARE ourselves an apartheid-free community
  4. WE PLEDGE to join others in working to end all support to Israel’s apartheid regime, settler colonialism, and military occupation

The initiative was developed in response to the direct request of Palestinian civil society to create apartheid-free zones, and from recognizing the need “to ignite congregations more fully in the work” of justice and solidarity. According to Rev. Allison Tanner, AFSC’s national organizer for Apartheid-Free Communities, the pledge serves “not only to say you’re against apartheid, but to name Israeli apartheid, to commit to take action against Israeli apartheid and to become part of a network that helps you think through and live out these commitments” .

Since its launch, the Apartheid-Free Communities initiative has grown exponentially. As of December 2025, over 1,000 congregations, organizations, and businesses had taken the pledge, representing more than a million constituents across North and South America, Africa, Asia, and Europe.4 Signers include faith communities, solidarity organizations, non-profits, student organizations, veterans’ groups, businesses, and municipalities.

Prior to Brampton’s decision, only eight municipalities globally had formally taken the pledge, with Burnaby and Powell River in British Columbia being the only other Canadian cities to do so. 5

The Human Rights Context

The pledge is grounded in decades of analysis by human rights organizations. For decades, Palestinian human rights groups have described Israel’s policies as apartheid. In recent years, major international human rights organizations, including B’tselem, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International, have also joined the call for an end to Israeli apartheid.

According to international law, apartheid is defined as a legally enforced system of separation and oppression based on race, creed, or ethnicity. In September 2024, a United Nations Commission of Inquiry concluded that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is subject to an International Criminal Court arrest warrant over war crimes. A UN report in January 2026 found Israel’s restrictions imposed on Palestinians “constitutes systemic discrimination based on, inter alia, race, religion or ethnic origin”.6

A Groundswell of Local Support

The campaign in Brampton saw unprecedented local engagement, with residents packing council chambers and flooding council members with calls and emails. The motion was first brought to council in October 2025 by Brampton City Councillor Gurpartap Singh Toor (and seconded by Councillor Navjit Kaur Brar), initially calling out “all illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank and across Palestine” and demanding Canada “recognize and take immediate action to address the genocide and ethnic cleansing occurring in Gaza”.7

The motion was referred back to the Interfaith Council of Peel for input before returning to Brampton council with the updated language that ultimately passed unanimously .

Advocates framed the motion not merely as a symbolic gesture, but as a continuation of a proven historical strategy: applying municipal pressure to drive systemic change. The movement drew a direct line from Brampton’s decision to the global anti-apartheid campaigns of the 1980s.

Just as Toronto, Montreal, and dozens of US cities passed divestment motions against South African apartheid in the 1980s, which applied grassroots pressure that helped bring that system down, Brampton now too joins that legacy. Those local movements proved that cities have power. That municipal action matters. That history is not just written by governments but it is written by communities who refuse to be complicit.

Special recognition was given by the coalition to Rabbi David Mivasair, who was instrumental in lending a strong voice of support for the motion on the floor. The campaign also extended gratitude to allied organizations that provided crucial backing, including Independent Jewish Voices Canada (IJV Canada), the Jewish Faculty Network, the Winchevsky Centre, and the Peel Labour Council.

City staff are now required to report back on any financial or legal implications that will result from the pledge before formal signing occurs . The coming months will see activists closely monitoring the city’s review of its financial portfolios and vendor contracts.

A Message to Other Cities

For the organizers, the implications of the vote extend far beyond Brampton’s borders. They view the decision as a template for other municipalities across the province and the country.As the first municipality in Ontario to take this stand, Brampton has placed itself at the center of a growing national conversation about municipal responsibility and international human rights.

“Bramptonians stand firmly on the right side of history,” the group concluded. “This is what solidarity looks like. Free Palestine!”

Sources:

  1. https://www.insauga.com/brampton-agrees-in-principle-to-condemn-israel-militarys-genocide-and-apartheid-in-gaza/ ↩︎
  2. https://www.instagram.com/brampton4palestine/p/DVwIWYeFdqu/ ↩︎
  3. https://just-international.org/articles/us-faith-groups-pledge-to-take-action-against-israeli-apartheid/ ↩︎
  4. https://afsc.org/newsroom/over-1000-congregations-organizations-and-businesses-have-pledged-become-apartheid-free ↩︎
  5. https://wltribune.com/2026/01/24/concerned-williams-lake-residents-ask-city-to-take-action-for-gaza/ ↩︎
  6. https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/thematic-reports/thematic-report-israels-discriminatory-administration-occupied-west-bank ↩︎
  7. https://pub-brampton.escribemeetings.com/Meeting.aspx?Id=5a514912-571a-4d1d-97a8-bcc660cccbbf&Agenda=Merged&lang=English ↩︎

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