THUNDER BAY — Local residents who have lost loved ones in Gaza were among the crowd on Sunday calling for an end to the violence in Palestine.
More than 60 people gathered at Hillcrest Park to show their support for the Palestinian people and demand Canada take action.
“I’m from the West Bank personally. But even those in the West Bank, even though we are suffering — we have family back home for us — we see what’s happening to our brothers and sisters in Gaza as something unimaginable, even at the level of suffering that we already feel in the West Bank,” said a Palestinian resident who has lived in Thunder Bay for many years.
“So, we have to stand beside them. They are our brothers and sisters. Having people lose entire bloodlines is unacceptable. And having Israel commit this (with) total impunity on the world stage in front of the world is utterly unacceptable.”
He said much of the countries of the world have not taken enough action and that Canada in particular needs to do more.
“It starts with our governments and we want to make sure that they’re held to account. To reassess … their free trade agreement (with Israel). We want an arms embargo and we want the recognition of a Palestinian state. This is the step towards making sure that peace is truly found in the region,” said he said.
“There is a statement that Canada released along with the UK and France condemning Israel's actions and threatening sanctions." he said.
"We want those sanctions now. It's been 20 months and 20 months is long enough.”
Since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, the Israel-Palestine war has resulted in the deaths of at least more than 53,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry.
A United Nations special committee and Amnesty International have called Israel's actions a genocide, a term rejected by organizations like the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs. In 2024, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes.
“We’re here because of this immediacy that we feel to make an embodied presence of our activism and hearts, because that’s often what’s missing, our hearts. Our hearts are with the people of Palestine who are suffering so greatly,” said Taina Maki-Chahal, one of Palestine Solidarity Thunder Bay’s organizers for the rally.
“They usually come to our rallies, the folks who are from Gaza (and) from Palestine, but after these 19 going on 20 months, it’s getting really hard for them. So we’re here for them first of all, for our local Thunder Bay people who are Palestinian,” said Maki-Chahal.
“Everyone that we know in Thunder Bay, their homes have been destroyed. They’ve been displaced a minimum of 10 times,” she added.
The Canadian government has failed Canadians who stand for human rights and international law, she added.
“It’s been really disheartening and difficult to watch the complacency of the Canadian government in perpetrating the genocide in Palestine,” said Charles Levkoe, another member of Palestine Solidarity Thunder Bay.
Levkoe said he is Jewish and is part of a Jewish coalition of thousands of people across the country who are standing up against the violence and the genocide in Palestine with the hope that there will be a ceasefire and the Canadian government will speak out against what’s happening and stop selling arms to Israel.
“We can move to a much better place where Palestine can be free, Jews can be free and we can live in peace,” said Levkoe.
