Prime Minister Mark Carney’s commitment that Canada would recognize a Palestinian state is prompting mixed reactions from Canadians with family in the Middle East.
Omar Mansour from Victoria says he feels encouraged by Carney’s announcement but believes Canada needs to do more to assist people trying to flee the Gaza Strip, where aid workers say a famine is unfolding in the war-ravaged territory.
“It’s a great step, but it’s just a statement,” he said. “I’m used to seeing the Canadian government give statements with no action.”
Carney announced Wednesday that Canada intends to recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations in September, as long as the Palestinian Authority holds elections next year. French President Emmanuel Macron has also pledged to recognize the state of Palestine at the UN General Assembly. U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, meanwhile, announced Tuesday that Britain would recognize the state of Palestine, but would refrain if Israel agrees to a ceasefire and long-term peace process in the next eight weeks.
Mansour says he has family in Gaza who have been waiting more than a year for Canada to approve their visas. His family back home is in “terrible shape” he says.
His brother could die “any minute” from heart disease, and his 75-year-old father hasn’t eaten for days because he insists on giving whatever food he finds to his nieces and nephews.
Mansour says his sister managed to flee to Egypt, through the help of the World Health Organization, and is receiving chemotherapy for cancer. “If I waited for the Canadian government to take action, she would have been dead by now,” Mansour said.
They can’t reach Canada because immigration officials require applicants to provide biomedical data. But fingerprints and photos can only be collected in-person at Canadian immigration offices in other parts of the Middle East. Since there is no such office in Gaza, many remain in limbo.
Montrealer Raquel Ohnona Look, the mother of a 33-year-old man killed by Hamas militants in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack at the Supernova music festival near the Gaza-Israel border, says she feels betrayed by Carney.
Her son, Alexander Look, was gunned down by Hamas in the brutal assault.
“This is not something that's acceptable, it's dismissing us. It is legitimizing terror,” she said in an interview Thursday.
Groups representing the Jewish community in Canada have expressed shock at Carney's announcement. The Jewish Community Council of Montreal said it’s “deeply dismayed” by the prime minister's decision, calling on him to reverse course.
“This decision is both misguided and profoundly dangerous. It is rooted not in reality, but in political theatre,” said Rabbi Saul Emanuel, the council’s executive director, through a press release.
Meantime, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, a Montreal-based advocacy group, expressed concerns that Carney was placing conditions on recognizing a Palestinian state. It suggested Canada needed to do more to hold the Israeli government accountable for its role in the conflict.
"Mark Carney shouldn't play kingmaker in Palestine," said Jason Toney, a spokesperson for the advocacy group. "Calling for elections while dictating who can participate makes a mockery of democracy. Palestinians, not foreign powers, must decide their future. Canada's role should be to support truly fair and free elections."
Canada has long called for a two-state solution — a Palestinian state that would exist in peace alongside Israel. For years, Ottawa has suggested this would come at the end of a peace negotiation between Palestinian and Israeli leaders.
Carney said there is a "necessity" for Canada to act as well as "an ability to influence" the situation in partnership with allies.
Picture Courtesy: AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi
