As a faith-inspired organization advocating for refugee and migrant rights, poverty eradication, and climate justice, CPJ frequently discusses the many ways these issues and policy decisions are interconnected. While our research and advocacy focus on federal domestic policy, we also recognize that these interconnections relate to multiple areas of jurisdiction, including international policies.
CPJ is committed to acting in solidarity with those experiencing injustice and oppression, recognizing in particular the harms of colonial violence and the suppression of political, social, cultural, and economic human rights. In Gaza, a report from Amnesty International in 2024 indicated that these harms have amounted to genocide.
In light of these convictions, CPJ has issued several calls for justice and peace in response to the occupation and genocide in Gaza since 2023. CPJ welcomed the announcement of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas in January 2025, followed by the Canadian government’s release of a joint statement in May 2025 calling for an end to military escalation and denial of critical aid in Gaza and the expansion of settlements in the West Bank. However, neither of these developments has provided justice or safety for Palestinians in Gaza and their global community, or the remaining Israeli hostages: escalating Israeli military operations continue to kill Palestinians and Israel continues to block aid from entering Gaza. While instances of antisemitic violence and prejudice are on the rise and are to be condemned, critiques of specific actions of the Israeli government and its perpetration of genocide have been wrongfully characterized as antisemitic in order to dismiss Palestinian rights.
The Canadian government must take decisive action to acknowledge and address its complicity in the genocide against the Palestinian people. We call on the Canadian government to act on several interconnected issues:
Use pressure to end violence and military operations in Gaza and the West Bank.
Beyond ensuring the safety of Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank, Palestinian refugees fleeing military action need a guarantee of safe passage when they undertake migration. We welcomed news of a ceasefire agreement in January 2025, but escalating Israeli military operations continue to kill Palestinians and prevent safe passage for refugees. Canada must use pressure to help bring a definitive end to violence in the region, which is essential in upholding Canada’s obligations under international refugee protection conventions and protecting the rights of Palestinian migrants.
Implement a comprehensive two-way arms embargo on Israel.
The tenuous nature of the January 2025 ceasefire demonstrated that a crucial component of ending violence in Gaza and the West Bank is a two-way arms embargo on Israel. The weapons that Canada and other nations manufacture and sell to Israel continue to fuel the genocide and will perpetuate violence into the future. Canada has a moral and legal responsibility to ensure that Canadian arms are not being used to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity, regardless of the practice of powerful western countries shirking their obligations to international humanitarian law in pursuit of their own interests and those of their allies.
Lift the siege on Gaza and allow immediate access to humanitarian aid.
The siege on Gaza, with its arbitrary restrictions on humanitarian aid and essential goods, perpetuates a humanitarian crisis and undermines any chance of sustainable peace or safe migration. Israel’s continued control over resource entry, the blocking of crucial aid, the killing of Palestinians, and the denial of medical care all represent blatant violations of the ceasefire and fundamental human rights.
Address the limitations of the Temporary Resident Visa (TRV) program for Palestinians and ensure equitable, accessible, and dignified pathways to safety for Palestinians fleeing catastrophic humanitarian conditions.
To enable Palestinians to enter Canada safely, the TRV must be reformed and visa applications must be processed immediately. Canada committed to facilitating the temporary refuge of 5,000 Gazans, but as of May 2025 only 41 individuals have been evacuated–a tiny fraction of the Palestinians who are attempting to seek refuge in Canada. Canada has quickly welcomed other migrants from conflict zones, highlighting a painful, discriminatory double standard that inadequately addresses what Canadian officials acknowledge as “catastrophic conditions” in Gaza.
Only by addressing these interconnected issues—ending violence in the West Bank and Gaza, imposing a robust arms embargo, lifting the siege on Gaza, and reforming the TRV—can we hope to foster a future where all human rights are respected and a just and lasting peace prevails in Israel as well as in Palestine.
Further reading:
For more information about the failures of the Temporary Resident Visa (TRV) program, read the report from Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME): Intended to Fail: Systemic Anti-Palestinian Racism and Canada’s Gaza Temporary Resident Visa Program
CPJ’s endorsements:
Arms Embargo Now! (August 2024)
Joint letter: Urgent changes needed to Canada’s Temporary Residence Visa Program for Gazans (November 2024)
For more information, please contact ac.jpc@aidem.
