On December 20, PBI-Guatemala posted:

“#PBI accompanies community journalist Maya Kaqchikel Norma Sancir in continuation of oral and public debate over her 2014 arbitrary arrest by 5 policemen charged in the case.

On this occasion the listing of documentary evidence was presented by both sides, and a new evidence was added by the plaintiff.

The debate reaches the conclusion phase, which will start on Wednesday, January 3 at 12pm, in the Chiquimula Criminal Sentence Court.”

Prensa Comunitaria documented the details of her arrest on September 17, 2014:

“She was arrested after she had left her home in Camotán and had taken a motorcycle taxi to go to where the peaceful rally was located near the Jupilingo bridge – located at kilometer 204 of the highway that connects the municipality of Camotán with the border with Honduras ‘El Florido.’

Not even two minutes had passed since she arrived, and she was not yet at the scene, when a patrol intercepted her and without saying a word arrested her. It was about eight o’clock in the morning. Just fifteen minutes earlier, more than 150 police officers had arrived at this place with the aim of breaking up the gathering.

She shouted, ‘Let go of me, let go of me! I’m a journalist, I’m a journalist!’.

Clearly, we are facing an action of violation of freedom of opinion and expression, impeding her work as a journalist, and a case of criminalization of the social struggle and in this case of those who document and assume the role of informing.

When Norma was arrested, she was taken directly to the head of the department in the city of Chiquimula, and was not presented before a judge until three in the afternoon. This is more than the stipulated six-hour time for this. In addition, she was not allowed to make any calls, as she requested.”

The full article can be read (in Spanish) at Periodista Norma Sancir: su detención violenta la libertad de expresión.

Prensa Comunitaria has also highlighted:

“The demonstration by peasant organizations and Ch’orti’ indigenous authorities lasted two days. They demanded the approval of initiative 4084, the Law of the National Rural Development System, which proposed to combat malnutrition and poverty in the country. That proposal was stuck in Congress, where deputies from the extinct Patriot and Leader parties blocked the agenda or broke the quorum by abandoning the sessions.”

Sancir has recently stated:

“There were two days of demonstration, the first day I covered the whole day giving information about what was happening in the place, why the people were there demonstrating, what their demands were, however, on the second day, I could not publish a note where the Ch’orti’ population was being violently evicted on the Jupilingo bridge, because when I was on my way to the place I was arrested. It’s a shame that journalists who are doing their work are being detained, because that story didn’t come out that day.”

Several years ago, when Sancir visited Quebec in May 2018, she told Radio Canada Internacional: “Freedom of information will exist when they let us tell the truth. We believe that freedom of expression should not be exclusive for the benefit of journalists working in the major media or for an editorial line.”

We continue to follow this.

Further reading: Inicia juicio contra policías que detuvieron ilegalmente a la periodista Norma Sancir (Prensa Comunitaria, May 15, 2023)

You can also watch this 2-minute video from #NoNosCallarán.

PBI-Mexico has posted:

“From PBI we express our concern for the physical and psychological harassment presented against the member of the Peoples Front Morelos Puebla Tlaxcala communicator and human rights defender, Miryam Vargas Teutle, while performing her work of informing and documenting the territorial conflicts of the communities of San Andrés de Cholula, context of multiple corporate, economic and political interests.

We reject all forms of violence and call for the recognition of the right to information and freedom of expression.

Today, December 18th, we accompany Miryam to file the complaint before the Human Rights Commission of the State of Morelos.”

Capital reports:

“Community journalists Miryam Vargas Teutle and Erik Coyotl Lozada filed a complaint with the Human Rights Commission (CDH) of Puebla against the Secretary of Drinking Water of San Andrés Cholula, Alejandra Zamora Martínez, and the mayor of that municipality, Edmundo Tlatehui Percino, for the crimes of harassment, harassment, physical violence and information blockade.

According to the professionals, the public servant has tried to prevent Radio Cholollan from working as a journalist on multiple occasions.

This is within the framework of the community assemblies held to request information about the drinking water network that is intended to be installed in the auxiliary board of San Rafael Comac.

Backed by audiovisual evidence, Vargas Teutle denounced that the Secretary of Potable Water squeezed her on December 15 while she was broadcasting the neighborhood meeting. This is done in order to inhibit its coverage.

When the communicator demanded that she not touch her, the San Andres official mockingly apologized and squeezed her again, which would constitute possible gender violence against the journalist.”

The full Capital article can be read at Acusan de hostigamiento y bloqueo informativo a edil y funcionaria de San Andrés.

E-consulta.com also reports:

“Members of the community radio channel Cholollan Radio reported that they have experienced physical harassment and stigmatization in different administrations of the municipal government of San Andrés Cholula.

During the morning of this Monday, December 18, communicators from the community radio program Cholollan Radio denounced, outside the Human Rights Commission of the State of Puebla, various attacks they have received from the San Andrés Cholula City Council.

The owner of the program ‘El loom radio’, Miryam Vargas Teutle, accused that she has experienced attacks by the Secretary of Drinking Water, Drainage and Sewage, Alejandra Zamora Martínez; of the municipal president Edmundo Tlatehui Percino, among other officials.

The attacks that she pointed out towards him are that the officials have ‘handled’ the microphones and mobile devices, as well as the struggle to inhibit the recordings and more violent treatment for being a woman.

On the other hand, Erik Coyotl Lozada, owner of the Cholollan Radio program, accused that they have inhibited the recording of voice and image, ‘covering the electronic devices with their hands,’ when he tries to report.

Both presenters mentioned that they have been accused of misinforming and being a means against progress.”

The full E-consulta.com article is at Denuncian por agresiones y acoso físico al Ayuntamiento de Cholula.

Additionally, this is a statement of concern about the situation and this is a 12-minute video of a media conference outside the Human Rights Commission (where Miryam acknowledges the accompaniment provided by PBI-Mexico).

PBI-Mexico has accompanied the Peoples Front in Defence of Land and Water in Morelos, Puebla, Tlaxcala (FPDTA) since 2020.

We continue to follow this with concern.

Photo: Ojibwe water protector Tara Houska locked on to construction equipment at a Mountain Valley Pipeline site, October 16, 2023.

The Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) is a 482 kilometre (300 mile) pipeline being built across West Virigina and Virginia to transport fracked gas. WGL Midstream, a subsidiary of Calgary-based AltaGas, owns 10 per cent of this USD $6.6 billion pipeline.

The Natural Resources Defense Council says: “It has been estimated that the full life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (excluding construction emissions) generated by the MVP mainline alone would be almost 90 million metric tons annually. This is equivalent to the emissions from 23 average U.S. coal plants.”

We note that Appalachians Against Pipelines has posted:

Their tweet includes this link that provides information on Project Partners, Top U.S. Banks Behind MVP, Top Investors, and Main Contractors.

The Appalachians Against Pipelines webpage notes that MVP is a joint venture between 5 corporations that includes: “WGL Midstream/AltaGas. They have 10% ownership over the project. WGL Midstream is a subsidiary of Canadian company AltaGas.”

This relationship is confirmed in this July 2018 media release: “AltaGas Ltd. (AltaGas) (TSX: ALA) announced today the closing of its approximately $9 billion acquisition of WGL Holdings, Inc. (WGL), creating a North American leader in the clean energy economy.” The AltaGas website also notes: “In the northeastern U.S., our Midstream segment also includes investments in the Mountain Valley Pipeline (currently under construction).”

Protests against the construction of the MVP pipeline

On September 8, 2023, The Guardian reported: “According to Scientist Rebellion, a coalition of scientists who are actively protesting against climate change, over two dozen work stoppages such as lockdowns, rallies and walk-ons have taken place at the Mountain Valley pipeline construction site in the past two months.”

That article in The Guardian noted the arrest of two people that week, including climate scientist Rose Abramoff, who “is believed to be the first American climate scientist to risk a felony in an act of climate protest against fossil fuel projects.”

The following month, on October 16, 2023, three people were arrested including Ojibwe water protector Tara Houska, who was charged with trespassing.

MVP and white phosphorous

Appalachians Against Pipelines photo: “MVP would supply gas to the Pentagon and the Radford Army Ammunition Plant, which is operated by BAE Systems – a corporation that supplies Israel with white phosphorus & other weapons.”

CBS News has explained: “Because of its incendiary effects, the use of phosphorus in war is supposed to be tightly regulated under international law — but it is not banned. Phosphorus is not classed as a chemical weapon under the Chemical Weapons Convention. When used as a weapon, it can cause fire to rain down on targets, inflicting indiscriminate damage. It is illegal, therefore, for phosphorus to be used near civilians, because international law requires that combatants distinguish between civilian and military elements.”

In mid-October, Amnesty International stated: “Amnesty International’s Crisis Response Programme gathered compelling evidence documenting the use of white phosphorus artillery shells by the Israeli army in densely populated civilian areas in Gaza, many of which may be considered unlawful indiscriminate attacks.”

MVP and US military bases

This Mountain Valley Pipeline fact sheet says: “Mountain Valley Pipeline is proud to transport natural gas supplies that can be used as an energy source for various U.S. military locations … The Radford Army Ammunition Plant is within 10 miles from MVP’s route and can be directly served by the pipeline or through the local gas distribution company.”

The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality has also noted: “The Radford Army Ammunition Plant (RAAP) in Radford produces rocket and gun propellants. …The plant is the only active military propellant manufacturing center in the country.” And the Virginia Mercury has previously also reported that “BAE Systems, the private contractor that operates the plant — regularly listed as Virginia’s biggest polluter”.

BAE says: “The Radford Army Ammunition Plant is capable of producing mass quantities of solvent and solventless propellants to support direct fire, indirect fire, and rocket applications. The facility uses a variety of ingredients in its propellant-making process, including nitroglycerin and nitrocellulose.”

Tracing white phosphorous

BAE Systems says: “We do not manufacture white phosphorous and have confirmed our intention to cease the supply of products containing white phosphorous to customers.” They do not elaborate further on their “supply of products containing white phosphorous.”

Earlier this month, the Arkansas Times reported that “Arkansas’s Pine Bluff Arsenal [is] the only remaining manufacturer of white phosphorus munitions in North America.”

That article also references this Amnesty International report from October 11, 2023, that includes this image:

This month, The Jacobin reported: “Unionists from the Catalan Trade Unions Association protested Israel Chemical Limited–Iberia, a subsidiary of ICL Group, which provides Monsanto (now Bayer) with phosphates to produce white phosphorus for the US military, which in turn supplies it to Israel.”

Workers in Palestine has also further elaborated: “Israel Chemical Ltd (ICL, now ICL Group) provides Monsanto (now Bayer) with phosphates for the production of the white phosphorus chemical provided to Pine Bluff Arsenal (PBA) near Little Rock, Arkansas, for filling.”

We continue to follow this with concern.

Facebook post by Maya Q’eqchi’ journalist Carlos Ernesto Choc on the Fishermen’s Guild and Maya Q’eqchi’ Ancestral Council commenting on the IACHR (CIDH) ruling.

Common Dreams reports: “The IACHR found that Guatemala’s government violated the Q’eqchi’s rights to property and consultation when it permitted the Canadian company Hudbay to develop the long-dormant Fenix mine, also known as El Estor, on a mountaintop in the Izabal Department of eastern Guatemala in the 2000s.”

To read the communique (in Spanish) from the Court on this ruling, click here.

The Associated Press also reported: “Guatemala violated Indigenous rights by permitting a huge nickel mine on tribal land almost two decades ago, according to a ruling from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights Friday [December 15].”

The article adds: “According to a verdict read from Costa Rica in the early hours of the morning, the Guatemalan government violated the rights of the Indigenous Q’eqchi’ people to property and consultation by permitting mining on land where members of the community have lived at least since the 1800s.”

It further highlights: “The court also ordered an immediate stop to all mining activities, gave Guatemala six months to begin awarding a land title to the community, and ordered the creation of a development fund. No further mining can take place, it said, without the community’s consent.”

The Canadian connection

Inco (1960 to 1982)

In 1960, Toronto-based INCO Ltd. began negotiations with the military dictatorship of Guatemala to establish the Fenix mine. By 1965, EXMIBAL, a joint venture between INCO and the Guatemalan state, was granted a 40-year mining licence.

Professor Shin Imai has written: “Colonel Carolos Arana Osorio was responsible for clearing the Indigenous people out of the INCO region in Zacapa-Lake Izabal. He launched what has been referred to as a ‘reign of terror’ in the region, in which the number of people killed is estimated to be between three and six thousand.”

Professor Imai adds: “Major construction began on the El Estor mine in 1974 aided by a $20 million loan from the Canadian Export Development Corporation.”

Skye Resources (2004-2008)

Then in 2004, Vancouver-based Skye Resources bought the Fenix mine from INCO. (INCO was bought by the Brazilian mining company Vale in 2006).

The Canadian Embassy in Guatemala helped Skye Resources acquire a 3-year exploration license for a 259 square kilometre area that encompassed at least 19 Maya Q’eqchi’ settlements, including Lote Ocho. Skye renamed EXMIBAL to the Guatemalan Nickel Company (CGN).

Then in April 2006, Guatemala granted Skye Resources and CGN a license that allowed them to start mining. By September 2006, 300 Maya Q’eqchi’ families moved onto company-claimed land stating that it had been stolen from them 40 years prior.

Hudbay (2008-2011)

In 2008, Skye Resources merged with Toronto-based Hudbay.

Between 2007 and 2009, personnel from the mine along with the police and military violently expelled members of the community of Lote Ocho from their homes. During an expulsion in 2007, eleven Mayan Q’eqchi’ women were gang-raped.

In 2009, community leader Adolfo Ich was killed, while another community member, German Chub, was shot and paralyzed.

Solway (2011-present)

Then in September 2011, the mine was purchased by the Switzerland-based Russian company Solway Investment Group (and its subsidiaries CGN and PRONICO).

Central America Nickel

In April 2023, Newsweek reported that Montreal-based Central America Nickel (CAN) could purchase the mine with the support of the U.S. (and presumably Canadian) embassies in Guatemala.

Criminalization of fishers and Carlos Ernesto Choc

On December 7, PBI-Guatemala posted:

“PBI accompanies the Human Rights Law Firm at the interim hearing in which they were going to decide whether to close the criminalization case against 3 organized fishermen from El Estor and the journalist Carlos Ernesto Choc. The 4 accused were linked to criminal proceedings by four Russian workers of the Fenix project in 2017, owned by CGN – Pronico and Solway.

The hearing was adjourned because Solway’s attorney didn’t show up on time. Although she has already expressed her willingness to step down the criminal process, the hearing was rescheduled for January 31.”

Facebook post by Carlos Ernesto Choc: “Once again my interim hearing was suspended, in the first instance criminal court, Puerto Barrios, Izabal and was rescheduled for January 31, 2024, this criminal process began in August 2017. False accusations by the mining company CGN-Pronico of Solway Investment Group, for documenting the pollution of Lake Izabal and the murder of fisherman Carlos Maaz, on May 27, 2027.”

For more on this, please read: PBI-Guatemala accompanies BDH lawyers at hearing for Maya Q’eqchi’ journalist and three fishers in Fenix mine case.

We met with Carlos in May in Guatemala City and interviewed him on our webinar in August. We are attentive to his January 31 court date.

We continue to follow with concern.

Photo: MQ-9A Reaper drone.

The CBC reports: “A fleet of 11 MQ-9 Reaper drones, built by U.S. defence contractor General Atomics, will be purchased in a $2.49 billion package, Liberal MPs announced Tuesday [December 19] on behalf of Defence Minister Bill Blair.”

The article adds: “Unlike other recent purchases for the air force, this project was announced outside of Ottawa in a low-key manner. The announcement came after Parliament adjourned for the holiday season and on the same day the Liberal government delivered more information about its high-profile electric vehicle program.”

“The contract involves the delivery of both the drones and six ground stations. The main ground control centre, which houses the aircraft cockpits, will be situated in Ottawa. The aircraft themselves will be stationed at the military airbases in Greenwood, Nova Scotia and Comox, B.C. Their purchase will require the construction of new hangars.”

The article further notes: “The fact that Canada had chosen the MQ-9 slipped out back in the fall, when it was revealed that the U.S. had approved the sale of equipment related to the Reaper, including Hellfire missiles.”

At that time, the Ottawa Citizen reported the Canadian military had requested the United States to provide it with 219 Hellfire missiles and that the purchase of the missiles and “assorted other weapons and equipment” would cost more than $400 million.

In July 2021, The Intercept reported: “By some estimates, U.S. drone operations abroad, conducted by both the military and the CIA, have killed between 9,000 and 17,000 people since 2004, including as many as 2,200 children and multiple U.S. citizens.”

Daniel Hale, a former United States Air Force signals intelligence analyst who helped locate targets for drone strikes when he was deployed in Afghanistan, has stated: “With drone warfare, sometimes nine out of 10 people killed are innocent.”

Canada is expected to receive its first armed drones in 2028.

PBI-Canada tweet.

On Monday December 18, we shared on social media a photo of an Israeli helicopter firing a missile while flying over northern Gaza the previous day.

The photo in the CBC News article is by Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images.

We highlighted that there are Canadian parts in Apache helicopters.

Boeing has noted: “Canadian partners provide aerospace parts for all Boeing commercial airplane models and nearly all defence programs, including the AH-64 Apache, V-22 Osprey and CH-47 rotorcraft, F/A-18 and F-15 fighter aircraft, P-8A maritime patrol aircraft, the C-17 Globemaster III airlifter and aircraft trainers.”

The tweet went viral when it was quote-tweeted by Member of Parliament Niki Ashton.

Niki Ashton tweet.

PBI-Canada supports the call for a ceasefire.

We have also highlighted the calls from various organizations for both an arms embargo and a two-way arms embargo.

On December 14, Project Ploughshares released this report and highlighted: “The gravity of this situation calls for immediate action to ensure Canada is meeting its domestic and international obligations to mitigate the risk of contributing to violations of international law, for example, violations of international humanitarian law (IHL), including possible war crimes, in Gaza. Given the substantial risk that Canadian military goods could contribute to such abuses in Gaza, Canada must immediately halt all transfers of weapons to Israel.”

Furthermore, the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) along with more than 170 organizations have called for a two-way arms embargo on Israel: “As Israel continues to import weapons, with over USD 4 billion annually from the US and Germany alone, it has also established itself as a leader in the cybersecurity and surveillance industry and is among the world’s largest exporters of weapons, ranking tenth in 2022. Such technologies are often promoted as having been successfully tested on the Palestinian population in the context of Israel’s long-standing occupation during which they have also often been developed. Our organisations therefore further demand that States put an end to and denounce imports of arms and surveillance technology from Israel.”

We further highlighted in our tweet the hashtag #StopCANSEC.

That’s because Boeing is both a sponsor and an exhibitor at the CANSEC arms show that is scheduled to take place this coming May 29-30, 2024.

To read more about the popular mobilizations against CANSEC, please see this World Beyond War Canada webpage.

If you can support with a donation of any amount our advocacy for human rights, webinars and field visits with organizations, defenders and communities, research that makes links to Canadian companies, plus e-newsletters and the accompaniment work that we help to amplify, please click here to make an online donation.

Your support will help us continue this work in 2024.

Next year, we plan to:

– organize an advocacy tour in Toronto and Ottawa with Colombian social leaders who have been criminalized for speaking out against the environmental and social impacts on their community by a Canadian oil company

– hold a webinar on the need for protection mechanisms for environmental defenders to be included in the UN COP29 climate and UN COP16 biodiversity talks

– visit with Gitxsan land defenders who are opposing three pipelines to be built on their territory and who are calling for the disbanding of the controversial RCMP C-IRG unit that has been deployed to harass, criminalize and arrest water and forest protectors

– highlight research that links a Canadian company with the construction of the Oxec III dam in Guatemala opposed by the Indigenous Maya Q’eqchi’ peoples who have not given their free, prior and informed consent for this megaproject

– draw attention to the role of Canadian weapons exports in the repression of human rights struggles at the time of the CANSEC arms show in Ottawa

– continue to send out a regular e-newsletter and post on social media articles that contextualize the social justice struggles accompanied by PBI field teams

– launch an innovative campus-based outreach tool to encourage activists to volunteer for 12-18 months to do physical accompaniment of human rights defenders with one of our projects in Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico.

An online donation made here will help make all of this happen.

We also accept cheques mailed to: Peace Brigades International-Canada, 211 Bronson Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario, K1R 6H5.

We are a small organization with one staffperson and twelve volunteers that does all of this with a budget of less than $90,000 a year. A donation of any amount goes a long way do help us to this work and a lot more.

Thank you!

Brent Patterson

Still from Last Stand Legal Defence Fund video.

The Last Stand Legal Defence Fund fundraising page is asking for support for the Indigenous land defenders and climate and old-growth forest activists who face being sued by the Surrey, British Columbia-based logging company Teal Cedar.

The page explains: “In the wake of the frontline old-growth forest protests around Fairy Creek,  forest products company Teal Cedar has filed a civil lawsuit against Pacheedaht elder Bill Jones and 14 supporters for their role in advocating for the protection of old-growth forests in a down-spiralling climate and biodiversity crisis and for upholding Indigenous law and supporting an Indigenous Conserved and Protected Area (ICPA) of the last remaining old-growth forests on Pacheedaht territory.”

It adds: “The ‘Fairy Creek 15’ is now facing the daunting task of defending themselves against the high powered Teal Cedar lawyers. Vague allegations have been made against them causing financial damage to the company. Teal Cedar falsely alleges that these individuals conspired together to harm Teal Cedar’s business operations.”

To donate, click here.

Instagram video and Facebook video: “Keith is among the #FAIRYCREEK15 – 15 land defenders currently being sued for alleged financial damages resulting from the Fairy Creek movement. He and 14 others are facing the daunting task of defending them selves against high priced corporate lawyers.”

Further reading: Teal Cedar Ltd. is going after leaders of the Fairy Creek blockades for millions in damages. Does Teal have a case? (Evergreen Alliance, December 3, 2023).

Photo: CANSEC arms show.

Earlier this week, The Guardian reported: “[Israel’s defence minister] Yoav Gallant told the Associated Press that the current phase of the conflict, characterised by heavy ground fighting backed up by air power, could stretch on for weeks and that further military activity could continue for months.”

On Thursday December 14, Gallant further stated: “It will last more than several months”.

More than 18,700 Palestinians have been killed since October 7, with thousands of more dead believed to be buried under ruble, nearly 50,600 injured, and the displacement and immiseration of 1.9 million people, 85 per cent of Gaza’s population.

Calls for a ceasefire

On Tuesday December 12, the United Nations General Assembly voted 153 in favour of an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.

Canada was one of the countries that voted in favour of the ceasefire.

After the vote, CBC reported: “Iddo Moed, Israel’s ambassador to Canada, said the UN resolution ‘changes nothing on the ground.’ Moed said ‘talking [with Hamas] will not make any difference’ and the UN resolution won’t change how Israel carries out its war on Hamas. ’Israel is there to stay and Israel will win this war anyway, and at any price it would cost us.’”

Exhibitors at CANSEC

Israeli military activity for months brings to our attention the CANSEC arms show in Ottawa that takes place five months from now, May 29-30, 2024.

The exhibitors at CANSEC include “Israel Representatives” and Elbit Systems Ltd., an Israel-based arms company that is the largest supplier of weapons to Israel.

Official exhibitors also include Global Affairs Canada and the Canadian Commercial Corporation, a Canadian federal Crown corporation.

Other exhibitors include Lockheed Martin, the makers of the F-35 warplane, and Boeing, implicated as the makers of the bombs dropped on the Jabalia refugee camp.

CANSEC attracts “VIPS, generals, top military & government officials” and “74% of attendees have purchasing power”.

It’s where weapons are showcased, bought and sold.

Calls for an arms embargo

It is in this context that we note that, on November 16, UN Special Rapporteurs, Independent Experts and Working Groups called for the international community to “implement an arms embargo on all warring parties”. They further warned “the failure to urgently implement a ceasefire risks this situation spiralling towards a genocide conducted with 21st century means and methods of warfare.”

On October 20, Amnesty International also called on the international community to “impose a comprehensive arms embargo on all parties to the conflict given that serious violations amounting to crimes under international law are being committed.”

Furthermore, on December 14, Project Ploughshares released this report and highlighted: “The gravity of this situation calls for immediate action to ensure Canada is meeting its domestic and international obligations to mitigate the risk of contributing to violations of international law, for example, violations of international humanitarian law (IHL), including possible war crimes, in Gaza. Given the substantial risk that Canadian military goods could contribute to such abuses in Gaza, Canada must immediately halt all transfers of weapons to Israel.”

A review of Canada’s annual reports on exports of “military goods” reveals that over the last five years Canada has exported almost $100 million of these so-called “military goods” to Israel: $21,329,783.93 (in 2022), $26,092,288.99 (2021), $18,947,640.49 (2020), $13,744,727.53 (2019) and $15,950,952.12 (2018).

It is unclear exactly what these military goods are, but the categories include bombs, missiles, aircraft components, and electronic equipment.

Ploughshares also highlights that “some components manufactured in Canada and transferred to the United States, including components integrated into the F-35s, are ultimately delivered to Israeli forces. The vast majority of Canadian military exports to the U.S. are unregulated and unreported, the exact volume and value of these exports remain unknown.”

As such, Canadian “military goods” sent to Israel could be much higher than the $100 million figure noted above.

Calls for a two-way arms embargo

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Israel is also the 10^th largest weapons exporter in the world.

The International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) along with more than 170 organizations have called for a two-way arms embargo on Israel.

They explain: “As Israel continues to import weapons, with over USD 4 billion annually from the US and Germany alone, it has also established itself as a leader in the cybersecurity and surveillance industry and is among the world’s largest exporters of weapons, ranking tenth in 2022. Such technologies are often promoted as having been successfully tested on the Palestinian population in the context of Israel’s long-standing occupation during which they have also often been developed. Our organisations therefore further demand that States put an end to and denounce imports of arms and surveillance technology from Israel.”

Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, along with 119 other organizations, have also highlighted in this letter: “Arms imports from Israel are wholly inconsistent with obligations under the ATT. Israeli military and industry sources openly boast that their weapons and technologies are ‘combat proven’ – in other words, field-tested on Palestinian civilians ‘human test subjects’. When States import Israeli arms, they are encouraging it to keep bombing Palestinian civilians and persist in its unlawful practices. No one –neither Israel, nor arms manufacturers in ATT States parties– should be allowed to profit from the killing or maiming of Palestinian civilians. It is thus abundantly clear that imposing a two-way arms embargo on Israel is both a legal and a moral obligation.”

Canada’s position?

Given the warnings that what is happening in Gaza is a genocide, Canada’s obligations to international law, the calls for an arms embargo (both exports and imports), and Israel’s stated opposition to a ceasefire (and its stated intention to continue the “war” for months), what is the Government of Canada’s position on the CANSEC arms show?

Project Ploughshares report.