Palestinian Canadians meet with Trudeau in Toronto to demand Canada call for Gaza ceasefire
CBC
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he had a "good and thoughtful conversation" in Toronto on Wednesday with a group of Palestinian-Canadians who have family members trapped in Gaza as the Israel-Hamas war continues.
The group is demanding that Canada call for an immediate ceasefire in the war and for a safe humanitarian corridor to allow food and water into Gaza for its 2.2 million people and fuel for its hospitals.
Trudeau made no other comment following the hour-long meeting at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. The prime minister was in Toronto for the first day of the Ontario Economic Summit, an annual event hosted by the Ontario Chamber of Commerce.
Reem Sultan, a spokesperson for the group of Palestinian Canadians who says her entire family is in Gaza, said the prime minister listened to the group's demands but she is not sure what the outcome of meeting will be. She agreed that it was a good conversation.
"The next few days will tell how this meeting went," she said.
"There has been a change. And we're hoping for more for the thousands of children that have been murdered. For this craziness to stop, that's what we're looking for. We're looking for a complete ceasefire for the children, for the innocent children that are dying," she added.
"It was definitely a conversation. He was listening to our stories and sharing from his perspective."
Sultan said the group wants Canada to use its close relationship with Israel to push for the safe evacuation of Palestinian-Canadian families trapped in Gaza as it did and has been doing for Israeli-Canadians. She said her family members in Gaza have been told they cannot be guaranteed safety.
Global Affairs Canada said it is "aware of reports" of a Canadian citizen crossing from Gaza to Egypt after the Rafah border crossing opened on Wednesday to allow hundreds of foreign passport holders to leave the besieged territory for the first time since the start of the Israel-Hamas war more than three weeks ago.
Sultan said communication has been "patchy" with her family members in Gaza.
"Sometimes we get through and sometimes we have no idea if they're dead or alive. It's been very, very difficult," she said.
"You can't sleep, you can't eat. You feel guilty taking a shower. You feel guilty sleeping because you have a house and you know that they don't have houses to go to."
The group also wants Trudeau to issue a public statement that supports the right of Canadians to protest and the right of Canadians to exercise their freedom of speech without fear of censorship. She said Trudeau should make it clear that these rights should be protected.
In addition, the group wants the statement to indicate that Muslim Canadians should not be discriminated against in workplaces or school systems for speaking up in support of Palestinians.
The amount of money it takes for people to earn a living wage has increased across the province, according to a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
The new owner of Ontario steelmaker Stelco says his company "will not disappoint the people of Hamilton and Nanticoke," where the business's major facilities are based.
A Winnipegger is warning others about an intricate scam she says she almost fell for.
Fort William First Nation is opposing a planned redevelopment of the Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) 117 year old Kakabeka Falls Generating Station, which is located in their traditional territory.
A building that sits at the corner of Sussex Street and Brunswick Avenue has had many lives over the last century — being a church, a school and offices. Now it's set to become housing, at a time when the city sorely needs it.
A Waterloo, Ont., elementary school principal will be sentenced in the new year after pleading guilty to child sexual exploitation charges following a joint investigation that involved the London, Toronto and Waterloo police services.
Students at UPEI have let their student union know what they want from the province this fiscal year, and those priorities are reflected in a 2024-2025 advocacy document brought to the legislature on Wednesday.
Larger communities in the N.W.T. will soon see a boost in their territorial funding to maintain infrastructure and deliver services — like water and waste management — but the increase still falls short of what communities need.
The toxic drug crisis has taken more than 47,000 lives in Canada since 2016 and the synthetic opioid fentanyl has become a household name. But now, what's believed to be an even more potent class of synthetic drugs is showing up in drug busts across the country: nitazenes.
The Liberal government and the NDP have agreed to introduce a two-month GST vacation on certain items before the holiday season, Radio-Canada has learned.
Veterinarians are warning Londoners to make sure their dogs are vaccinated and keeping clean after a deadly virus outbreak was declared in London this week.