About two dozen people camped outside MP Randall Garrison’s constituency office on Burnside Road West Monday, as part of a nationwide protest against what they say is Canadian complicity in the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
As the group, most of them wearing face masks, occasionally chanted “Free Palestine” in English and French, one person sitting on the office floor inside intoned the names and ages of Palestinians that have so far been killed in the war.
Organizers staged simultaneous protests and sit-ins at 17 constituency offices in 12 Canadian cities advocating for an immediate ceasefire and the halting of Canada’s ongoing monetary and military support for Israel.
Photos of Palestinian children killed by Israeli airstrikes since Oct. 7 were pasted on the windows of the constituency office at 50 Burnside West Rd.
Inside the office were handouts of the Oct. 13 statement from NDP foreign affairs critic Heather McPherson, which called for the immediate release of all Israeli hostages, the protection of civilians, an end to the siege and bombardment of Gaza, and unfettered humanitarian aid access, printed just before protesters entered the office.
Maia Wikler, who attended the Victoria protest, said that it’s her responsibility as a Jewish person to speak out anytime “there’s a genocide unfolding.”
“This is manipulation of Jewish grief and trauma and leveraging it just to secure more power in the Middle East — with serious civilian consequences,” she said. “It doesn’t represent Jewish values. This isn’t what Jewish people stand for.”
Israel declared war against Hamas after the Oct. 7 attacks, in which more than 1,400 Israelis were killed and 222 taken hostage, according to the Israeli government.
The country’s military has responded with force, bombarding Gaza with rockets and launching a ground offensive in recent days.
More than 8,300 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry, which says most of the dead are women and children.
Wikler said a stronger stance from Canada is needed. “The safety of Jewish people is inextricable from the safety of Palestinians,” she said. “All of us bear a really critical responsibility in this time right now to act in a way that’s proportionate to the crisis.”
A statement from Garrison’s office provided to the Times Colonist reiterated New Democrat Party stances on the conflict, which included calls for an immediate ceasefire and an end to arms sales to Israel.
While Garrison was in Ottawa, protesters spoke with the two constituency assistants working on Monday.
The Victoria sit-in ended in the afternoon without incident.
In Toronto, six people were arrested and ticked for trespass violations during a sit-in at Minister of Justice Arif Virani’s office.
Toronto protest spokesperson Michael DeForge said that office staff called police several hours into the sit-in and used them as a buffer to not engage with the demonstrators. “We weren’t resisting arrest, but they dragged our bodies out [and] handcuffed us.”
— With files from The Canadian Press
