Palestine solidarity activists call for civil disobedience as week-long vigil continues in Ottawa

Palestine solidarity activists called on Thursday for peaceful civil disobedience to pressure the Canadian government to implement an arms embargo and economic sanctions against Israel, among other demands.

“We call on citizens to organize in peaceful disobedience,” said Tatiana Harker, a member of the Montreal-based group Palestine Vivra, during a news conference in Ottawa. “Our ports and airports cannot continue feeding the slaughter of Gaza and supporting an ethno-state imposed on the Indigenous people of that land.”

They also called on Canadian unions to act “so that the oxygen the Canadian government gives to Israel is cut off wherever workers have the power.”

It came on the fourth day a week-long vigil on Parliament Hill, where activists are reading the names of children in the Gaza Strip killed in the ongoing Israeli military campaign widely condemned as a genocide. 

More than 20,000 children — roughly two per cent of the territory’s children — have been killed since October 2023, according to data cited by groups including Save the Children. The true number is likely much higher as thousands are missing and presumed buried under rubble.

At least one New Brunswicker travelled to Ottawa to join other activists as they spend five days reading the thousands of names, which takes place daily between noon and 7 p.m.

University of New Brunswick biology professor Jeff Houlahan said during a media conference earlier this week that the goal is to honour those children and to pressure the federal government to take action against Israel.

The March on Ottawa group is demanding that the federal government implement an two-way arms embargo and apply economic sanctions against Israel, while taking legal actions that include a ban on Israeli soldiers entering Canada.

The vigil began just as MPs returned to the House of Commons this week. Houlahan said that all MPs were invited to join the vigil, with outreach beginning on Aug. 28. Only a handful have agreed to participate.

He noted that Parliamentarians rose for a standing ovation this week after a Conservative MP read out a tribute to Charlie Kirk, the American far-right influencer who was assassinated during a speaking event in Utah last week. Kirk promoted anti-Muslim hatred and was known for his staunch support of Israel.

“The people who are choosing not to support arms embargoes, economic sanctions and adherence to international law are the people who can’t take a hundred steps from their office and ten minutes to stand with us and say the names of murdered children,” Houlahan said.

“But they can rise to their feet and give a standing ovation to Charlie Kirk, who for whatever he is, is not an innocent.”

David Gordon Koch is a journalist with the NB Media Co-op. This reporting has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada, administered by the Canadian Association of Community Television Stations and Users (CACTUS).