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Canada

Protests At Weapons Companies Expose Canada’s Involvement In F-35s

On Saturday November 16, hundreds of people gathered outside 16 factories and facilities across the country to expose Canada’s involvement in the production and maintenance of the F-35 fighter jets that are devastating Gaza and Lebanon, and to demand that Canada impose an immediate, two-way arms embargo on Israel. Each targeted company produces components of Lockheed Martin’s flagship war plane, which Israel is using to drop 2000 lb bombs on residential neighborhoods, schools, and refugee camps in what is already the most destructive bombing campaign of the twenty-first century.

Another Blow Struck Against Canada’s Largest Pro-Israel Charity

On November 8, another blow was struck against one of Canada’s most prominent Israel-serving charities. In August, the Canada Revenue Agency notified the Jewish National Fund Canada that its charitable status was being revoked due to the organization’s contravention of Canadian charity law. This week, the JNF’s application for a judicial review of the revocation was denied. While this story is far from over, the ruling holds great significance for Palestine solidarity activists in Canada and around the world. Founded in 1968 as the Canadian branch of the Jewish National Fund, JNF Canada is notorious for its role in greenwashing the Israeli occupation and settlement expansion in the West Bank.

Canadian Longshore Workers Forced Into Binding Arbitration

“The government is sending a dangerous message: employers can bypass meaningful negotiations, lock out their workers, and wait for political intervention to secure a more favorable deal,” said the Canadian Labour Congress in a statement on the government’s intervention into the port disputes.

White Poppy Campaign Recognizes All Victims Of War

As November 11 approaches, it can be disheartening to see the rise of militarism, war and genocide across the world. The annual White Poppy Campaign aims to recognize all of the victims of war, not just those who fought in uniform, but civilians and innocent bystanders as well. Since 2009, Vancouver Peace Poppies have actively worked to promote the message of the white poppy in their community. Teresa Gagné is a co-founder of Vancouver Peace Poppies. In an interview with rabble.ca, she explained that rather than being a symbol of remembrance, the white poppy symbolizes the need for peace.

Strikes Shut Down Canada’s Container Ports From East To West Coast

Key ports on Canada’s West Coast, including its largest container port in Vancouver and the Port of Prince Rupert, were shut down by a labor strike on Monday. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union Ship & Dock Foreman Local 514 began striking on Monday morning, stopping containers and cargo immediately. According to the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade, $800 million in trade flows through West Coast ports every day. Approximately 20% of U.S. trade arrives in the Canadian ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert, where strikes broke out after union leadership and industry representatives failed to reach a deal before a cooling-off period expired.

First Nation Shuts Down Highway Following Discovery Of Human Remains

Members of Red Rock Indian Band and their supporters brought all traffic to a halt between eastern and western Canada at the Nipigon Bridge for an hour on Monday morning. The shut-down came after pre-contact human remains were found at a nearby park construction site. Demonstrators from across the Robinson-Superior Treaty area called on Parks Canada to cease construction and acknowledge what the First Nation says are systemic mistakes that caused this to happen.  In May, four unique sets of human remains were overturned in development of Parks Canada’s $37-million Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area visitor’s centre in Nipigon, 100 kilometres east of Thunder Bay. 

Walmart Warehouse Workers Win First Union In Canada

Eight hundred workers near Toronto have won the first Walmart warehouse union in Canada or the U.S. “Honestly I was pretty nervous at first because I didn’t want to lose my job,” said 29-year employee Rodolfo Pilozo, a member of “Team Red,” the organizing committee behind the September victory. The Walmart distribution center is in Mississauga, Ontario, an hour from the western New York border. Workers there began organizing last December to join Unifor, Canada’s largest private-sector union. Forty percent signed union cards over the summer. Pilozo cited low wages and pressure to work dangerously fast as the main concerns that pushed him and his co-workers to organize.

When Golf Courses Go Wild

In the fields beside a suburban lake on Vancouver Island, relics from a past life are hidden in plain sight. The land, formerly the home of a nine-hole golf course for more than 50 years, is no longer doused with water every day or mowed at 4 a.m. — yet remnants of its former state still exist. A sand trap now serves as a children’s play pit, littered with Tonka trucks and toys. The fairway, once cut to under an inch, has grass up to shin height and rows of flowers. Old golf greens have been turned into campgrounds. The transformation is par for the course, says Jason Cole, co-CEO of Power to Be, a registered charity that took over the property in Saanich, B.C., seven years ago from a couple who wanted to lease their roughly 80 acres of land.

Samidoun’s Coordinator Speaks Out On US And Canada’s Targeting Of Them

On October 15 the United States Treasury Department announced a joint action with the Canadian government, targeting the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network. The U.S. slapped sanctions on the organization and Canada listed the group as a terrorist entity. The Treasury Department press release refers to Samidoun as a “sham charity” and accuses it of raising funds for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a secular Marxist-Leninist Palestinian political party, which has been designated as a terrorist organization by the State Department. “Samidoun is particularly targeted because of our political and vocal support for the Palestinian prisoners movement and the Palestinian people’s right to resistance,” reads a statement put out by the group in response to the development.

Toronto And Montreal Move Ahead With Fossil Fuel Ad Restrictions

The city of Toronto has passed a motion aiming to restrict fossil fuel advertising on municipal property, one of several recent efforts to curtail fossil fuel advertising in major Canadian cities. The motion passed on Thursday, October 10, giving Toronto city councillors one year to come up with a draft of the proposed legislation. The effort comes as transit agencies in Canada’s two largest cities have either implemented or are considering similar restrictions on using public transit to advertise for Big Oil or related industries.

I Resigned From Canada’s Largest Broadcasting Corporation

Words can empower, arm, and evoke sentiments that stimulate new ideas, worldviews, and policies. Being the only Muslim in the newsroom, I feared the language the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) was using to talk about Palestinians and resistance could ignite similar emotions that justified the U.S. invasion of Iraq and mass killings of innocent civilians in 2001. Days after October 7, 2023, I sat across from a CBC executive who appeared uneasy yet curious about my concerns over CBC’s coverage of Hamas’ attack on Israel. I was appalled by CBC’s lack of historical context between Israel and Palestine and the language used to defend Israel’s massacre of Palestinians.

Northern Ontario First Nations Say No To Nuclear Waste Project

Nine northern Ontario First Nations signed a joint letter to the head of the Nuclear Waste Management Organization on Friday, voicing their opposition to nuclear waste burial in the region. “Our Nations have not been consulted, we have not given our consent, and we stand together in saying ‘no’ to the proposed nuclear waste storage site near Ignace,” their letter reads, in part. “We call on you to respect our decision.” In November, the NWMO is expected to issue a final decision on the chosen site of a deep repository to bury Canada’s most radioactive nuclear waste. The 20-year-long process has narrowed options to either a site near Ignace and Wabigoon First Nation, or burying it nearby where the nuclear energy was produced.

A Port Strike Has Already Hit Canada As US Prepares For Walkouts

As the U.S. economy prepares for a potentially devastating strike across its East Coast ports, Canada is already dealing with its own. About 320 longshoreman represented by a local affiliated with the Canadian Union of Public Employees, began a 72-hour strike on Monday morning, freezing work at two terminals at the Port of Montreal. Those terminals, which are operated by Termont, represent about 40% of the containers that move through the port. The Port of Montreal impacts 37,774 jobs and contributes $2.7 billion to Canada’s economy every year, according to a 2023 study. It also provides more than 2,000 jobs to the U.S. and $145 million in economic benefits.

Trudeau’s Trans Mountain Expansion Hasn’t Delivered Promised Benefits

It has been four months since the $34 billion expansion of Trans Mountain pipeline finally became operational, realizing the longstanding dream of getting Alberta bitumen to tidewater. This much-hyped milestone was supposed to be a gamechanger for the Alberta patch, ending the reliance on U.S. buyers by accessing new Asian markets with allegedly higher prices. While it is still early days, the results so far have been a big fat bust. The price discount of Alberta’s Western Canada Select compared to West Texas Intermediate crude actually increased by $3.25 per barrel since TMX came online on May 1.

Union Challenges Government Order That Sent Rail Contract Talks To Binding Arbitration

Montreal — The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference is refusing to take no for an answer. The union, which represents 9,300 locomotive engineers and conductors on Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Kansas City, has filed appeals challenging the decisions that led to binding arbitration being imposed on their failed contract talks with the railways. The union argues that the decisions — made on Aug. 22 by the labor minister just hours after an unprecedented work stoppage shut down freight rail traffic in Canada, and then affirmed by the Canada Industrial Relations Board on Aug. 24 — stripped the workers of their right to strike.

Urgent End Of Year Fundraising Campaign

Online donations are back! Keep independent media alive. 

Due to the attacks on our fiscal sponsor, we were unable to raise funds online for nearly two years.  As the bills pile up, your help is needed now to cover the monthly costs of operating Popular Resistance.

Urgent End Of Year Fundraising Campaign

Online donations are back! 

Keep independent media alive. 

Due to the attacks on our fiscal sponsor, we were unable to raise funds online for nearly two years.  As the bills pile up, your help is needed now to cover the monthly costs of operating Popular Resistance.