I am glad to see that Canadians in Gaza have begun to gain safe passage to come home. We are continuing to work to assist Canadians and their immediate family. The Prime Minister stated on Wednesday:
A month ago yesterday, Hamas launched a horrific attack against innocent lives in Israel, and every day since then, we have seen violence and horrific images of families, elderly, mothers, children, killed. We’re watching it on TV every night, seeing it all over our social media, and Canadians are hurting and crying out that it needs to stop. This is why we are calling for a humanitarian pause. A humanitarian pause is going to allow all the hostages to be released, allow us to continue doing the work of getting all foreign nationals out of Gaza. We got 75 of 80 Canadians out yesterday, which is solid progress, but there is so much more to do. And a pause long enough to start not just getting aid in, but getting resources and medication and supports while we begin doing the work of de-escalating the situation, not just in Gaza, but in the West Bank, where there is increasing violence — danger of it spreading into Lebanon — and where we actually start doing the work of the real heavy-lifting that’s going to be required to get back on track to a two-state solution, to start imagining what the long-term future of a viable Palestinian state looks like — safe, secure — beside a safe, secure, viable and successful Israeli state.
This is what we need to get to, and every day that we continue to see suffering of thousands of millions of people makes it harder to get to that end state.
We’re seeing right now a rise in anti-Semitism that is terrifying. Molotov cocktails thrown at synagogues, horrific threats of violence targeting Jewish businesses, targeting Jewish daycares with hate. This needs to stop. This is not who we are as Canadians. This is something that is not acceptable in Canada, period. And, period, the rise of Islamophobia we’re seeing across this country and around the world is also unacceptable. The expressions of hate against Muslims, against Palestinians, against anyone waving a Palestinian flag — this is unacceptable. This is not who we are as Canadians. And if Canada can’t figure this out, tell me what corner of the world is going to figure this out?
So first of all, all of us, as political leaders, need to do everything we can to get back to bringing people together, to listen to each other, to understand that there are people across this country hurting, scared for themselves, scared for their kids here in Canada, scared for their loved ones on the other side of the world — and no sign of it getting better anytime soon. Canadians are scared in our own streets right now. We need to make sure that Canadians are doing what we do best, which is listening to our neighbours, understanding and acknowledging our neighbours’ pain, even though it may be diametrically opposed in its cause to the same pain that we are feeling.
This is a moment where a country like Canada, that has been deeply proud of the fact that we get along here in diversity better than just about any other place in the world — this is a time where we need to lead. We need to model here at home — forget about leading on the world stage. Here at home, we need to model how we get through this.
As the Prime Minister mentioned, and I have previously stated in my letters to you, the effects of the war are now being felt here at home. Antisemitism and Islamophobia are both on the rise at alarming rates. Canada’s two Special Envoys on Antisemitism and Islamophobia (Deborah Lyons and Amira Elghawaby, respectively) are working together on ways to keep our communities safe here in Canada.
This week, the federal government announced an additional $5M for a Security Infrastructure Program for communities at risk for hate-motivated crimes. In addition to places of worship, this funding will also cover cultural community centres, daycares and offices.
Also, Toronto Police Services now have a dedicated online form for reporting hateful graffiti.
