“This falls short of what Palestinians need”: Labour for Palestine - Canada’s statement on the Liberal-NDP Compromise
The NDP motion on Palestine, that was debated in Canada’s parliament yesterday, occurred amid an ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza and across occupied Palestine. The motion was the result of a rising tide in Canada and across the world in support of Palestinian self-determination, human rights, and liberation.
Over the last few months, we saw hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets of cities across Canada week after week, engage in direct actions, lobby their political representatives, and shut down weapons manufacturing companies complicit in the genocide. This debate does not signify a sudden crisis of conscience, but is a sign that organizing and mobilizing across every community, including within the labour movement, is growing stronger.
After more than five months of genocide against the Palestinian people by the apartheid settler-colonial state of Israel, with the full political, diplomatic, financial and military support of Western imperialist states including Canada, this motion was disappointing. The final motion fell far short of what is needed from the international community for the liberation of the Palestinian people.
The original NDP motion itself was weak but we provided conditional support for it, recognizing, in particular, the need for an arms embargo on Israel. The final Liberal-NDP compromise version that passed rightfully called on the government to demand an immediate ceasefire. Unfortunately, it also adopted the Israeli Zionist narrative and failed to address other important demands including:
Calling on Israel to conclude a prisoner exchange deal;
Imposing sanctions on Israeli leaders complicit in the genocide;
Imposing a two-way arms embargo on Israel;
Recognizing the right of the Palestinian people to resist the illegal occupation;
Recognizing the right of Palestinians to national self-determination by recognizing the State of Palestine.
As trade unionists we understand negotiations, but this compromised motion effectively gives the current Liberal government and the entire Canadian political establishment cover to continue supporting the genocide. This is unacceptable. We are not proponents of vague concepts of statehood, and ultimately advocate for the national liberation of all Palestinian and Arab lands but the clause that would have recognized the State of Palestine was essential. Its final amendment exposed the Canadian government as an opponent of Palestinian autonomy and self-determination. This clause should have been non-negotiable.
Labour for Palestine will continue to work with coalition partners and hold our government to account on calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and on upholding its mandate to end the export of arms to Israel. We recognize this as an important step forward and commit to continue to organize and build the movement for Palestinian liberation and an end to the genocide. We will continue to organize within the labour movement to oppose the imperialist nature of the Canadian government, and to mobilize the masses of the labour movement towards the Palestinian struggle.
This motion would not have been a debate without the mass mobilizations that the Palestinians, our allies and members across Canada have organized with unwavering determination.
