Israeli customs data suggests lethal Canadian arms are still being exported regularly to Israel, despite Ottawa's claim that it has halted such shipments.
"Canadian military products are deeply embedded in Israel's military infrastructure, despite our government's attempts to placate us," said Rachel Small of the group World Beyond War.
Her group is part of a coalition of Canadian advocates for Palestinians which released a report Tuesday based on data published by the Israel Tax Authority.
The data shows shipments from Canada that Israeli authorities classified as bullets, guns and other weapons.
The Canadian Press has reviewed the publicly available data sets, which include a shipment this past April listed as "bullets" sent from Canada to Israel with the "quantity" listed as 175,000, under the customs code that Israel uses for "munitions of war and parts thereof."
Similar bullet shipments from Canada arrived in Israel in February, July and December of 2024.
Also this April, a Canadian shipment arrived in Israel that a customs agent recorded under the category of "tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, motorized, whether or not fitted with weapons, and parts of such vehicles."
The tax database says that in August and November 2024, firearm "parts and accessories" were shipped from Canada to Israel which could qualify as "arms and ammunition." The database says they could include "military weapons" but could also be non-military items such as sporting shotguns or truncheons.
In the report released Tuesday, activists point to other shipments to Israel classified as aircraft parts, lasers, cameras and "transmission apparatus" that they say could have been for military use.
Global Affairs Canada and the office of Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand have yet to provide comment on the report. The Israeli embassy in Ottawa has been invited to comment but has not yet responded.
"We see clearly now that Canadian-made military goods have continued to flow directly to Israel this entire time, directly supporting Israel's capacity to carry out war crimes in Gaza and maintain its occupation of Palestine," Small said.
Parliament voted in favour of a non-binding motion in March 2024 to halt new arms permits for Israel, and the government subsequently announced a review of existing export permits.
That month, the office of then-foreign affairs minister Mélanie Joly said that none of the operating permits allowed for the export of "lethal goods" to Israel.
Yara Shoufani of the Palestinian Youth Movement said the Canadian government has not been transparent about what's reaching Israel, and she wonders if the federal government misled Parliament.
"Despite deceptive government statements, the flow of military cargo from Canada to Israel has been uninterrupted," she said at a news conference on Parliament Hill on Tuesday.
She said the government should implement a two-ways arms embargo, instead of continuing "to arm Israel and mislead the public with vague statements about permit regulations."
The report also raises the question of whether Ottawa has upheld a commitment Joly made in September 2024 to bar Canadian-made weapons from reaching the Gaza Strip.
The report notes specific companies receiving Canadian arms that have been equipping Israel's offensive in Gaza, and the possibility that aircraft parts from Canada have been used in strikes on Gaza. There is no direct, explicit evidence in the report that Canadian arms have been used on the ground in Gaza.
NDP foreign affairs critic Heather McPherson said the government has broken its promise to halt arms transfers to Israel.
“Today’s report shows that the Liberals misled Canadians instead of taking meaningful action to stop the violence and starvation killing Palestinian civilians," she wrote in a statement.
McPherson argued Canada is exposing itself to international liability for not taking action to deter Israel from actions that the International Court of Justice could end up classifying as genocide.
"Canadians are right to feel betrayed and horrified,” McPherson wrote.
Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
