End Canadian Support for Apartheid

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Students to Deliver Message to Local MP Peter Braid: End Canadian Support for Israeli Apartheid

March 6, 2009

WATERLOO—This morning, starting at 9 am, a group of student activists and other local concerned citizens will be demonstrating at the office of Conservative MP Peter Braid, at 22 King St South. The non-violent demonstration is part of activities for Israeli Apartheid Week. The purpose of this demonstration is to raise awareness, to educate, and to show a public outcry against the Canadian government’s stance on apartheid issues occurring both in Israel and in Canada. The group will be displaying a banner featuring the poster image that has been banned on University campuses across Canada, including Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Waterloo. The focus of Israeli Apartheid Week is to raise awareness about the unjust apartheid situation in Israel-Palestine, and to demonstrate solidarity with the suffering of Palestinian people, especially in light of the recent invasion.

“We are voicing opposition to the Conservative government, and the positions held publicly by Canadian leaders,” says Gina Kish, a representative for the group. She points to Steven Harper’s statement that “Canada has unshakeable support for Israel,” and Paul Martin’s said that “Canada’s values are Israel’s values.” Kish explains that “these statements made by Canadian leaders do not represent us as Canadian citizens. We are expressing an opposition to Canada’s full complicity in apartheid, both in its support for Israel and its treatment of Indigenous people domestically.”

One of the speakers at the event, Alex Hundert says that, “during Apartheid Week it is important that we, as Canadians, recognize the significance of the fact that the Apartheid policy in South Africa was based on Canada’s Indian Act.” He pointed to the AW@L Statement on the Crisis in Gaza, Feb. 1 [attached] which states that, “the Canadian government’s unquestioning support of Israel is no surprise when one recognizes that Lawrence Canon, Minister of Foreign Affairs, was the same MP who has continually refused to meet with the leaders of Barriere Lake,” where state violence was recently used against peaceful protesters. Canon recently refused to visit the Gaza strip while on a trip to Israel.

Hundert is speaking as a member of AW@L, also known as Anti-War@Laurier, a “direct action” group based out of Kitchener-Waterloo which has formally endorsed today’s demonstration.
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