Action on Gaza

Please consider signing the parliamentary petition organized by Mervyn  Russell from Horseshoe Falls, which is in the office Wednesday to Friday, 9am to 2pm, and on Sunday morning. The petition calls for humanitarian  aid to be allowed into Gaza, for protection for UNRWA workers and  infrastructure, and for an immediate ceasefire. Since we started working  on this petition, on 15 July the UNRWA headquarters in Gaza were  completely destroyed by the Israeli Defense Forces. 197 UNRWA workers  have been killed since the start of the conflict. Added to ongoing and  severe restrictions on the entry of food and humanitarian aid, on July  18, Oxfam International reported that Israel is "systematically  weaponizing water against Palestinians in Gaza" and that Israeli forces  had damaged or destroyed "five water and sanitation sites every three  days since the start of the war". On July 5, global health experts in  the Lancet, including McMaster's Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Dr  Salim Yusuf, OC, reported that the likely death count in Gaza is  many-fold greater than deaths from trauma, because it is known that  deaths from communicable and non-communicable diseases in war outstrip  deaths in combat by a factor of 3 to 15 fold. They estimate deaths of  186,000 or more, 8% of the Gaza strip population (https://shorturl.at/j8laf). 

Links: 

https://x.com/UNRWA

https://www.unrwa.org/resources/reports/unrwa-situation-report-119-situation-gaza-strip-and-west-bank-including-east-Jerusalem#:~:text=As%20of%207%20July%2C%20the,three%20from%20the%20last%20update.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/israel-hamas-war-gaza-water-scarce-dehydration-warnings-unrwa-rcna162257

https://shorturl.at/j8laf

For anyone interested in petitions and letter-writing as methods to take action for justice, we have identified two potential actions for 5 May 2024, a day in honour of missing and murdered indigenous women (MMIW).

1. The UN International Rapporteur on Indigenous Affairs has criticized Canada for criminalization of land-and water-defenders. Sign the Amnesty International petition to show you agree and to stop violence against women, girls, 2-spirit people and all who protest or demonstrate to preserve lands and water. You can add your own personal message, eg, Please take action now to prevent violence against land-and water-defenders across Canada.

2. Send the letter below as an email to the Honourable Gary Anandasangaree. Remember to:

a. Update the date

b. Add your address and postcode

c. Fill in something about yourself in the first line

d. Add your name and any credentials as a signature

Email: gary.anand@parl.gc.ca

Cc: justin.trudeau@parl.gc.ca; pierre.poilievre@parl.gc.ca; Jagmeet.Singh@parl.gc.ca; elizabeth.may@parl.gc.ca

You can look up your MP by name or postcode here.

Hamilton Central’s MP is Matthew.Green@parl.gc.ca 

Or you can print the letter and put it in the mail, without a stamp. Mail can be sent post-free to any member of parliament.