Pro-Palestinian demonstrators have urged Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Liberal Party to support a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and put an end to its arms sales to Israel.
Media reports said on Wednesday that pro-Palestine demonstrators gathered outside Ottawa’s Shaw Centre to tell Trudeau that Canada’s vote on a Gaza ceasefire was “not enough” and the prime minister needed to take decisive action to stop the Israeli regime’s genocidal war on Gaza.
Canada voted in favor of a non-binding resolution at the United Nations on Tuesday that calls for “an immediate humanitarian ceasefire” between Israel and Hamas, in a move that broke with years of Canadian policy and shocked pro-Zionist groups.
UN ambassador Bob Rae told the assembly that Canada supports a humanitarian ceasefire, because it is a necessary step in calling for an end to the “continuous” suffering of Palestinian civilians.
“We are alarmed at the diminishing safe space for civilians in Gaza,” he said, while noting Canada’s support for the unsuccessful amendment to the motion.
“The ongoing humanitarian crisis has weighed heavily in Canada’s decision to support this resolution.”
The vote at the UN General Assembly signaled a slight shift in Canada’s long-standing position of siding with the Israeli regime as it carried out brutal atrocities against the defenseless Palestinians.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says more than 18,205 Palestinians have been killed, most of them women and children, while nearly 50,000 others wounded by the Zionist forces since Oct.7.
“Thousands of children are now orphans,” Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said Tuesday on Parliament Hill.
“Countless Palestinian civilians in Gaza are suffering without water, food, fuel or medicine and their homes have been reduced to rubble.”
The National Council of Canadian Muslims called the UN vote a “milestone” that had to be transformed into “the reality of action and deeds.”
