Endorsements

Endorsements so far:

Individuals
Niki Ashton - NDP Member of Parliament, Churchill—Keewatinook
Rima Berns-McGown - Ontario NDP Member of Provincial Parliament, Beaches-East York
Diana Buttu - Palestinian-Canadian lawyer and former Spokesperson for the Palestine Liberation Organization
Noam Chomsky - Legendary writer, academic and political dissident
Libby Davies - NDP Member of Parliament, Vancouver East (1997-2015) and Deputy Leader (2007-2015)
Richard Falk - Former UN Special Rapporteur for Palestinian Human Rights
Joel Harden - Ontario NDP Member of Provincial Parliament, Ottawa Centre
Peggy Mason - Former UN Ambassador for Disarmament (1989-1994) and President, Rideau Institute
Gabor Maté - Physician, bestselling author and member of the Order of Canada
Shawn Menard - Ottawa City Councillor, Capital Ward
Seth Morrison - Former JNF Washington Board Member and current member of the Jewish Voice for Peace National Board
Svend Robinson - NDP Member of Parliament, Burnaby (1974-2004) and current candidate, Burnbaby North-Seymour
David Viveash - Former Counsellor (Political) at the Canadian Embassy in Tel Aviv (1995-98) and Canadian Representative to the Palestinian Authority (2006-2008)

Abigail B. Bakan - Professor, University of Toronto
Rev. Steve Berube - St. Paul's United Church, Fredericton
Murray Dobbin - Author, journalist and social activist
Bonnie Sherr Klein - Documentary filmmaker, writer and officer of the Order of Canada
Michael C Klein - Physician, researcher, author and member of the Order of Canada
Dimitri Lascaris - Lawyer, journalist, activist and former Justice Critic, Green Party of Canada
Neve Gordon - Professor of Politics and Government at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Jeff Halper - Former Director, Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions
Azeezah Kanji - Legal academic and writer, Toronto
Seth Klein - Policy researcher and writer, Vancouver
​Arthur Milner - Canadian playwright and theatre director
Monia Mazigh - Canadian author and academic
Rabbi Lucia Pizarro - Jewish Liberation Theology Institute, Hamilton
Lia Tarachansky - Israeli-Canadian filmmaker, Toronto

Organizations
Actions4Palestine (Toronto)
Arab Canadian Lawyers Association
Association of Progressive Palestinian Canadians
Canada Palestine Association
Canada Palestine Association - Vancouver
Canadian Association of Muslim Women in Law
Canadian Boat to Gaza​
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East
Canadian Friends of Sabeel
Canadian Friends Service Committee (Quakers)
Canadian Latin American Solidarity Association of London
Canadian Peace Congress
Canadian Union of Postal Workers
Canadian Unitarians for Social Justice
Canadian Voice of Women for Peace
Canadians, Arabs and Jews for a Just Peace (Halifax)
Catholics for Justice and Peace in the Holy Land
Christian Peacemaker Teams Canada
Churches for Middle East Peace
Centre international de solidarité ouvrière (CISO)
Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (Toronto)
Coalition BDS-Québec
College and University Workers United
Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN-Québec)
Conseil central du Montréal métropolitain-CSN
Faculty for Palestine
International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network - Canada
Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions - Israel and UK
Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement Ottawa
Jewish Liberation Theology Institute
Just Peace Advocates
Justice for Palestinians (Calgary)
Rideau Institute
Palestine Solidarity Network (Edmonton)
​Palestinian Canadian Congress
Palestinian Solidarity Working Group (Sudbury)
Palestinians and Jews United (Montreal)
​Progressive Jewish Alliance (UBC)
​Queer Ontario
Solidarity with Palestine (St John's)
Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights - University of Ottawa
​Students for Justice in Palestine - Carleton University
Teachers for Palestine (Toronto)
Unitarians for Social Justice
United Jewish People's Order - Toronto
United Network for Justice and Peace in Palestine and Israel
​Vancouver District Labour Council
Women in Solidarity with Palestine - Toronto

Statements of support
Niki Ashton
"Canadian organizations shouldn't enjoy charitable status if they support occupation"

Neve Gordon
"The JNF is not only a political organization through and through, but has been at the forefront of confiscating Palestinian land."

David Halton
"I passed by the three Palestinian villages while covering the Six Day War. Their residents had already been driven out and their homes about to be demolished. Today it remains a black mark on our country's reputation that a park, established with Canadian funding, should have been built on a site where ethnic cleansing took place. As a matter of decency and legality, the name "Canada Park" should be removed and any further tax-deductible contributions to it disallowed."

Joel Harden
"IJV courageously speaks out for justice, peace and human rights. I am proud to support them and their critical work."

Peggy Mason
"I am appalled that a Canadian charity is able to maintain its registered status in spite of decades of activities that appear to clearly violate Canadian charity laws and guidelines. Supporting a foreign army, entrenching an illegal military occupation and funding infrastructure projects that discriminate against Palestinians are surely the antithesis of bona fide charitable activities. I encourage all those who cherish human rights and upholding Canadian law to sign the petition to stop these illegal tax breaks."

Gabor Maté
"Canadian taxpayers have no reason to subsidize an organization that makes land available only to one ethnic group, excluding and dispossessing the aboriginal population."

Shawn Menard
"As a strong supporter of social justice, I am proud to support IJV’s important initiative calling on the CRA to revoke the charitable status of the Jewish National Fund. No charity should be subsidizing human rights abuses"

Seth Morrison
"As a former member of the JNF Washington DC Board, I call on the Canada Revenue Agency and the US Internal Revenue Service to thoroughly investigate the JNF's abuse of tax exempt donations to support Israel's occupation of Palestine."

Lia Tarachansky
"Stop The JNF Canada is a campaign that exemplifies how international allies can pressure their governments to stop sheltering the corrupt organizations behind Israeli colonialism. I hope Canadians who believe in equality in Israel and Palestine come together to endorse this campaign and tell their government to revoke the charitable status of the Jewish National Fund."

David Viveash
"As a former diplomat in both Tel Aviv and Ramallah, I welcome Independent Jewish Voices Canada's parliamentary e-petition. Having seen the remains of Palestinian villages and graves in what is now “Canada Park”, I fail to understand how contributions to this project could be considered tax-deductible “charitable donations”. One also has to question the charitable status of other activities detailed in IJV’s comprehensive submission – including projects supporting the Israeli army and the illegal settlement of militarily occupied territory."

Rima Bern-McGown (click here to see a web graphic of this quote)
"Like most Jews, I had the idea growing up that the Jewish National Fund’s tree-planting in Israel had to be a good thing. Like most Jews, I had no idea that the trees were being planted over razed Palestinian villages, precisely to erase them.  

More recently, when my kids were given certificates for JNF-planted trees for their bat mitzvot, I had no idea that the JNF was actively breaking Canadian law with projects that benefitted the Israeli armed forces.  

I lived in Israel for three years in my early 20s. I travelled and hiked extensively throughout Israel and occupied Palestine, including Gaza and the West Bank. I continue to believe with every core of my being that peace and prosperity are possible for Israel/Palestine, but we have to begin with the principle that every person, regardless of faith or ethnicity, has the right to live a free and secure life. It is literally the only way to solve the puzzle.  

In Canada, we need to begin by having real, honest conversations within the Jewish community, conversations that recognize that progressive Jews — Jews like me, who insist that Palestinian rights are human rights, and that Judaic values insist as a first principle that Israel not oppress anyone, within or adjacent to its borders — are a growing segment of the community. We will not be silenced. We will not be erased. The community needs to listen to what we have to say and it needs to stop questioning our Jewishness.  

For these reasons, I proudly endorse IJV’s campaign to stop the JNF."

More to come​!
To send in organizational and high profile individual endorsements please contact [email protected]