voter questions for candidates
Over the next few weeks, candidates will be campaigning to represent you in Parliament. Be it on your doorstep, at a town hall meeting or online, this is your chance to tell them that supporting Palestinian human rights is important to you.
Vote Palestine has prepared a few key questions to get the conversation started.
Keep this document on your phone and/or at your door for easy access. Share candidates' answers with us at votepalestineca@gmail.com or via our social media platforms.
END THE TRADE OF GOODS AND SERVICES FROM ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS
Although Canadian policy officially opposes illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, we continue to maintain a trade agreement with Israel that allows for the free flow of settlement goods into our country.
Q 1: Do you support a ban on importing goods and services from illegal Israeli settlements?
END MILITARY TRADE AND COOPERATION WITH ISRAEL
In 2021 alone, more than 300 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military. Canada is sadly complicit in these crimes through the weapons trade.
Q 2: Do you support suspending all bilateral trade of weapons and military services with Israel until it complies with international law?
UPHOLD INTERNATIONAL LAW FOR PALESTINIANS
The Canadian government is part of a tiny bloc at the United Nations that systematically votes against resolutions in support of Palestinian human rights. In 2019 and 2020, Canada took a small step in the right direction by supporting 1 out of 16 of these resolutions.
Q 3: Will you support Palestinian efforts to seek redress at the International Criminal Court (ICC); and push the government to vote in support of all UN resolutions upholding Palestinian human rights?
PROTECT FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION ON PALESTINE
Israel and its supporters are waging a campaign in Canada to delegitimize Palestinians by falsely accusing them of antisemitism. They are relying on the widely-discredited and controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism.
Q 4: Will you reject the IHRA definition of antisemitism, and commit to fighting antisemitism without conflating it with criticism of Israel, and without undermining free expression and activism for Palestinian human rights?