Burnaby councilors, BC, a municipality in the Vancouver Metro region, have unanimously approved a motion that asks the federal government to impose a two -way embargo on Israel in the middle of the current war in Gaza.
The motion of couun. Alison Gu asks the mayor of Burnaby, Mike Hurley, to write to the federal government and request that the federal government stop the export and import of all military goods between Canada and Israel.
He also commits Burnaby to signing a promise of being “apartheid free” and committing to freedom, justice and equality for the Palestinian people, as well as advocating the federals to expand the temporary resettlement visa program for Canadians who seek to take out the members of the Gaza family.
The councilors said Tuesday that they were the first community in Canada to ask for a two -way embargo on Israel, who has been fighting Hamas in the Gaza Strip since October 2023.
“Our components have been talking to us, saying that they feel completely disappointed by other government orders in the lack of action on this,” Gu a CBC’s told CBC’s On the coast before the meeting.
“The representation we have as local leaders, the responsibility that our platform has to use to take a position is a moral question,” he added.
The death of the motion was received by strong cheers in the boards of the Council on Tuesday in the third most populated city of Vancouver subway of just under 250,000 residents.
The councilors of the city of Burnaby unanimously voted on Tuesday in favor of advocating peace for Palestinian people. As Johna Baylon of CBC reports, the mayor of Burnaby says he will write to the Federal Government to request a full -arms embargo between Canada and Israel.
Gu said that the motion was motivated by a recent analysis that showed that Canada’s weapons still flow to Israel, despite the insistence of the federal government that weapons have not been sent to the country since January 2024.
She says that the data were discovered by a group of four NGO researchers: the world beyond war, the Palestinian youth movement, Canadians for justice and peace in the Middle East and independent Jewish voices.
They found tickets in the database of the Israel fiscal authority that show that Canadian goods continue to enter Israel, described by the Israeli government as parts and ammunition of military weapons.
Lawyer Daniel Tetrault, who is Jewish and descended from the Holocaust survivors, said the councilors were defending many residents who had written to them horrified about what was happening in Gaza.
“I am listening to residents seeking leaders to advocate for peace and justice, but instead face a silent indifference or a direct complicity of many of our leaders,” he said.
“The residents who are afraid to speak in their workplace or in their school or in their communities for fear of repercussion. Residents who not only want to see peace and justice anywhere else in the world, but also in their local communities.”
Gaza’s Ministry of Health said Sunday that at least 62,000 Palestinians have been killed in the 22 months war. It does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.
The war began on October 7, 2023, when the militants led by Hamas killed 1,200 people and kidnapped 251, according to the many Israelis. Most hostages have been released in high -fire or other agreements, but 50 remain in Gaza, and around 20 are still believed that they are alive.
A new report backed by the UN says that famine is being developed in Gaza. The Secretary of State for International Development of Canada, Randeep Sarai, says that Israel is not doing enough to prevent civilians from hungry.
Israel has been criticized for the number of deaths in Gaza, with the country controlling who leaves Gaza and how much humanitarian aid can enter.
The Integrated Food Safety Phase Classification System, a collaboration of 19 global organizations, including the organization of food and agriculture (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), said that 514,000 people, near a quarter of the Palestinians in Gaza, are experiencing the famine, with the number that must increase to 641,000 at the end of September.
