When Prime Minister Mark Carney announced on Canada Day that the country would enter the 2027 Eurovision Song Contest, the framing was predictably triumphant. CBC President Marie-Philippe Bouchard called it an opportunity to showcase Canadian talent “on one of the most storied music stages in the world.” Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture Mark Miller invited Canadians to participate in selecting the entry, declaring that “Canadian culture belongs on the world stage.”
What none of them addressed was that 2026 was the deepest crisis in Eurovision’s seventy-year history, as five countries (Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and Iceland) withdrew over Israel’s participation as it continues and still continues its genocide in Gaza. The 2027 contest, which Canada will join, has already seen Ireland confirm to continue its boycott of the event. Canada’s decision to debut in this particular edition is not a neutral act of cultural diplomacy. It is a choice to enter a competition whose moral standing is actively disintegrating, and to do so alongside a participant accused of genocide.
Selecting Canada’s inaugural Eurovision entry
When CBC/Radio-Canada opened its Eurovision submission portal on August 31, 2026, it did so with an invitation that reads as an extraordinary opportunity. “The Eurovision Song Contest is the biggest music stage in the world,” declared Doug Smith, Executive Vice-President of CBC, “and we invite artists from across Canada to be part of this remarkable adventure with us.”
For a Canadian musician, the chance to represent the country at its inaugural Eurovision appearance is the kind of career moment that comes once in a generation. In the context of 2026–2027 and the ongoing genocide, it is also a moral trap for Canadian musicians and organizations that represent Canadian artists/musicians.
CBC/Radio-Canada closed its Eurovision registration portal on September 9, 2026, without a single major Canadian arts organization publicly opposing Canada’s participation in a contest that Ireland’s national broadcaster has deemed “unconscionable given the ongoing and appalling loss of lives in Gaza”.
The deadline for entries might have passed but the decision has not been finalized yet. CBC will determine a shortlist of finalists, to be announced this fall, followed by a public vote and industry jury. The selection process is not over and the window for institutional intervention, in preventing arts-washing of genocide, remains open. Every step of this process can be interrupted by institutional action and pressure.
The Institutional Failure
The organizations that exist to represent Canadian artists; SOCAN, Canadian Federation of Musicians (CFM), Canadian Independent Music Association (CIMA), Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS), Screen Composers Guild of Canada (SCGC), ACTRA Recording Artists Collective Society (RACS), ARTISTI, Canadian Live Music Association, Songwriters Association of Canada (SAC), La Société professionnelle des auteurs et des compositeurs du Québec (SPACQ), Canadian Arts Coalition, and every other body claiming to speak for Canadian cultural workers have a responsibility to publicly call on CBC/Radio-Canada to withdraw from Eurovision 2027 until Israel is excluded. In addition, they must advise their members not to participate or withdraw from the selection process. They must make clear that any artist who proceeds does so against the explicit advice of their professional associations.
The case for organizational action is not abstract. More than 2,100 artists and cultural workers worldwide have signed an open letter calling for a boycott of Eurovision until the EBU excludes Israel’s public broadcaster KAN. Signatories include Brian Eno, Roger Waters, Peter Gabriel, Massive Attack, and former Eurovision winners. Kneecap, the Irish rap group that signed the letter, stated plainly: “We’ve paid a price for speaking out – lost gigs, court cases, visa bans – and we’d do it all again tomorrow. Silence is complicity.”
Artists fear the real dangers of lost gigs, legal threats, professional isolation and is precisely why individual artists cannot be expected to lead this fight. Individual refusal is necessary but insufficient. The burden of moral courage should not fall solely on individual artists who must weigh their convictions against their careers. The impact of individual actions usually are less-effective than collectively taking a stand.
In should be noted that the Canadian music industry, like its counterparts in the United States and Europe, includes many influential figures with deep commitments to Israel’s and zionism’s cultural standing. Artists who speak out risk being blacklisted within this “ecosystem”. The organizations that exist to serve canadian artists and musicians must absorb that risk collectively.
The EBU’s own decisions demonstrate the political nature of the contest. Russia has been banned since 2022. Israel, which is committing genocide in Gaza, remains welcome. Eurovision director Martin Green has stated that the question is “done” and will not be revisited. The EBU’s rationale is that public broadcasters cannot be held responsible for their governments’ actions. This is a policy choice by EBU. It is a decision to privilege one state’s cultural participation over the objections of five broadcasters and over thousands of artists.
Participation is a choice. Refusal is a choice. Institutional silence is a choice.
What the Organizations Must Do
The Canadian Federation of Musicians describes itself as “the leading professional organization of its kind available to Canadian musicians,” committed to “minimizing potential threats and maximizing opportunities” for its members. In 2027, a Canadian musician is going to be placed in a position where their Eurovision participation will make them complicit in a contest that legitimizes genocide. SOCAN, CFM, CIMA, CARAS, and other major organizations representing Canadian musicians, must issue public statements advising its members not to participate in CBC’s selection process and calling on CBC/Radio-Canada to withdraw Canada from Eurovision until Israel is excluded.
The same obligation applies to every organization that claims to represent Canadian artists; The Canadian Independent Music Association, The Canadian Live Music Association, Music Publishers Canada, The Songwriters Association of Canada, The Canadian Arts Coalition, ACTRA, etc. These bodies cannot remain silent when their members are being asked to lend their talents to a contest that Ireland’s RTÉ has called “unconscionable.”
The Netherlands’ recent reversal, NPO announcing it will take over the Dutch entry from AVROTROS and stop its boycott of Eurovision, demonstrates that institutional decisions are fluid and contested. These decision are not “set-in-stone”. Canadian organizations and musicians that speak now can shape the outcome of Canada’s participation in a contest that has legitimizes genocide.
The Precedent of Institutional Action
The cultural boycott of apartheid South Africa succeeded, in part, because institutions like unions, guilds, arts organizations made participation in apartheid venues a mark of shame rather than a career opportunity. The number of major entertainers traveling to South Africa dropped dramatically by the early 1980s as the costs of participation became clear. This did not happen because individual artists were brave. It happened because institutional pressure made bravery unnecessary for some and complicity costly for others.
The organizations that represent Canadian artists have the power to create the same dynamic. If the Canadian Federation of Musicians advises its members not to participate, if the Canadian Independent Music Association states its opposition, if the Canadian Arts Coalition calls on CBC to withdraw then individual artists are no longer alone. They can point to their organizations and say: we stand with our community.
The organizations that remain silent will bear responsibility of staying silent. If a Canadian artist is selected and travels to Burgas in May 2027, they will become the face of Canada’s participation in a contest that over 2,100 international artists have condemned. In 2027, participation in Eurovision is not a career opportunity but a career liability, an act of cultural laundering of genocide that will follow the chosen artist for the rest of their professional life. If they participate, they will carry that stigma for the rest of their career.
The onus must not fall on individual artists who risk their livelihoods if they refuse. It must fall on organizations that claim to represent Canadian cultural workers. They must advise their members against being complicit in genocide. They must pressure CBC/Radio-Canada to withdraw. They must make Canada’s withdrawal from Eurovision 2027 a demand that comes from the institutions of Canadian music, not from isolated artists.
The submission deadline has passed. The silence must not stand.