On July 9, Conservative MP of Kitchener Centre Kelly DeRidder sent a message to her mailing list decrying the KW Palestine Festival, to be held in Kitchener on July 12, and calling on the mayor and police to take action. She also linked to a letter MP Roman Baber for York Centre sent to Mayor Vrabonovic. These claims from DeRidder and Baber are clear examples of anti-Palestinian racism (APR).
DeRidder claims that the Festival is “dragging conflicts from other countries into our neighbourhoods.” In fact, conflicts [in] other countries” are not distant or unrelated to our own neighbourhoods. In Waterloo Region alone, there are at least 9 companies that provide weapons or military support to Israel. At least 16 organizations have accepted money, totalling over $2 million, from charities that are part of just one aspect of the Canada to Israel Charity pipeline. This includes organizations like Food4Kids Waterloo Region, St. Mary’s General Hospital Foundation, Food Bank of Waterloo Region, House of Friendship, and the Huntington Society of Canada. Approximately 13.5% of the University of Waterloo’s endowment fund is invested in companies complicit in Israel’s Crimes. They have also received over $8.7 million dollars from pro-Israel donors including from the Gerald Schwartz & Heather Reisman Foundation and the Azrieli Foundation.
Canada is and always has been complicit in Israel’s Crimes. This is not a surprise when considering Canada’s own existence as a settler colonial state that is committing an ongoing genocide against Indigenous Peoples here on Turtle Island.
We support the Palestinian people in their fight for liberation and against the occupation of Palestine.
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