About

Neighbours for Palestine: Waterloo Region asked municipal candidates in the cities of Cambridge, Waterloo, and Kitchener to adopt a ‘Pledge for Palestine’ in the upcoming municipal election. Our goal is to inform voters on where our local candidates stand on supporting our Palestinian neighbours.

The Pledge

As a council member, I pledge to:

• Ensure cultural events hosted by local Palestinian communities and their allies are supported by the city;

• Publicly speak out against attempts to pressure the city into cancelling these events; and

• Vote against bylaws which would limit the rights of people to protest an ongoing genocide, apartheid, or the manufacture of weapons used to enable these activities.

We emailed all mayoral and council candidates where contact information was available. If you are a candidate and did not receive an email, but would like to take this pledge, please email us at waterlooforpalestine@gmail.com.

Overview of Candidate Responses

Some candidates provided additional context / comments. In those cases, an asterisk* is placed beside their response and you can find these comments in the next section.

Waterloo

Cambridge

Kitchener

Additional Responses from Candidates

Cambridge

Ihtsham Haq, Mayoral Candidate

As a candidate for Mayor of Cambridge, I believe our city should respect and protect the rights of all communities to peacefully gather, organize cultural events, express their views, and participate in lawful peaceful protest. I will support Palestinian community events and cultural activities on the same fair and equitable basis as those of other communities. I will also oppose unreasonable pressure to cancel lawful community events and oppose municipal measures that unnecessarily restrict peaceful protest and freedom of expression. I believe innocent civilian lives must be protected, regardless of their nationality, religion, or background. I have been deeply concerned by the killing and suffering of innocent Palestinian civilians, particularly children. At the municipal level, my commitment is to ensure that Cambridge remains a city where people can speak, gather, and participate in civic life peacefully and without discrimination.

I am running to represent every Cambridge resident equally, not one flag, religion, race, or international political cause. I was born in Iraq as an Assyrian Christian minority, where I experienced what it means not to have equal rights. Canada gave me those rights, and I believe they belong equally to everyone—white, Black, Indigenous, Palestinian, Israeli, Assyrian, Arab, Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, and every other community. I support peaceful expression, but I will not support hatred, racism, intimidation, or violence toward anyone. International conflicts should not determine the priorities of Cambridge City Council. My responsibility is here: our residents, our streets, homelessness, affordability, safety, infrastructure, and keeping Cambridge clean. I respect your right to advocate for Palestine, but I will not pledge my municipal vote to any international cause. My pledge is to Cambridge and to treating every resident equally.

As a candidate for Ward 7 Councillor in Cambridge, I believe every resident and community deserves to be treated with dignity, fairness and respect. I support the right of people to participate peacefully in civic life, express their views, gather lawfully, and raise awareness about issues that are important to them. Cambridge is a diverse community, and I believe our city is strongest when residents feel heard and respected, regardless of their background or circumstances. With respect to municipal events, demonstrations and future bylaws, I believe these matters should be considered carefully and fairly, in accordance with applicable laws, Charter rights, municipal policies, public-safety considerations and the proper Council decision-making process. I would commit to listening to residents, considering the facts and legal framework, and exercising my judgment independently and responsibly as a councillor.

Kitchener

Everton Dixon, Ward 10 Candidate

I don't do pledges, but I can make my stance clear. Under current international law and dominant human-rights frameworks, no country has a right to engineer itself into an ethnically or racially homogeneous nation, especially not through exclusion, expulsion, or worse. Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal and should be arrested if he steps on Canadian land. Mark Carney is betraying Canadians. In a Public Safety Canada Progress Report released regarding national commitments to combat antisemitism, advocacy groups like Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) and Independent Jewish Voices raised alarms, stating the document treated anti-Zionism as a form of antisemitism. I support The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement and a "Arms Embargo Now" initiative.

Matthew Parker, Ward 3 Candidate

I'm happy to commit to your three-point pledge. I'm not in favour of censorship of any kind, I vehemently support everyone's right to protest anything they'd like and I'm happy to support anyone looking to hold cultural events regardless of political affiliation. I'm a proud supporter of an independent Palestinian nation within the context of a two-state solution.

In my platform I also have a call to action for a Peace City Declaration which would include updating zoning to eliminate the ability for the weapons manufacturing industry to expand in the region and a bylaw that would fine companies found to be complicit in war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Manikantan Nair, Mayoral Candidate

I support the right of Kitchener residents to peaceful expression, protest, and cultural events, including those organized by Palestinian communities and their allies. These rights should be protected consistently and without discrimination. As Mayor, I would expect the City to apply its policies fairly and equally to all communities, while respecting the legal limits of municipal authority. I would not support political pressure to cancel a lawful cultural or community event simply because of disagreement with its message. At the same time, peaceful protest must not become a platform for hate, threats, harassment, or intimidation. I believe the same standard should apply to every protest, regardless of the cause or community involved.

As I continue to witness what's unfolding, my heart breaks for the innocent people caught in the middle of all this. I have friends, neighbours, and constituents right here in Waterloo Region with deep ties to the region, and what matters most to me is human life and safety for everyone. As a municipal candidate, my job is to represent every person in my ward, and in Kitchener. That is why, in this capacity, I do not sign advocacy pledges on international issues. I need to stay focused on what we can actually do here at home, building a community where people treat each other with respect, lowering tensions, and making sure every resident feels safe and welcome.  On the specific things you mentioned: Cultural events put on by Palestinian communities and their allies should be treated the same as events from any other group, fairly and consistently. I support people’s right to peaceful protest and free expression, and I would not vote for bylaws that try to take those rights away. I will look at each issue carefully and decide based on what is best for the whole community and what the law allows. I am fully committed to standing against hate in all its forms, antisemitism, Islamophobia, and anything else that divides us. I want Waterloo Region, Kitchener in particular, to be a place where everyone can live and speak freely without fear.

Sam Nabi, Ward 10 Candidate

I support this pledge. Cultural events, for Palestinian and other communities, should be welcomed by the city. I know that there can often be financial and logistical barriers to smaller groups that wish to host events, and that’s why my platform includes exploring the idea of a mobile stage rental kit that the city can provide to reduce the complexity of organizing a neighbourhood event. When there is pressure to cancel an event, we must look at the situation from a human rights lens, and assess the difference between feeling uncomfortable and feeling unsafe. I was involved in pressuring the City to cancel its contract with far-right comedian Ben Bankas, who celebrated the shooting death of an anti-ICE protestor and encouraged trans people to kill themselves. Bankas’ deliberate targeting of marginalized groups clearly disqualifies him from any involvement with City facilities. Antiwar protests are part of our culture and I celebrate those that speak up against injustice: whether against colonization here in Canada, the genocide in Gaza, the unprovoked war in Ukraine, or other conflicts. Protest organizers have a responsibility to distinguish between the actions of a genocidal State, and targeting people based on their race or religion. I have attended events here in Kitchener where a speech against the Israeli government veered into a blanket condemnation of Jews in general, which is not something I can support. In our community, violence and intimidation against both Muslim and Jewish neighbours has increased in recent years. Those organizing protests in support of a Free Palestine must be conscious of this fact and work to ensure their events are safe spaces (not necessarily comfortable spaces) for everyone.

I am pleased to endorse the Pledge for Palestine. I will always support the right of all members of the community to peacefully assemble and to make their views known. No event should ever be cancelled unless it is clearly promoting hate against another group. Organizers have a responsibility that no members of the community are made to feel targeted or unsafe due to their race, religion, or other identities.

As a candidate for Ward 5, I am more than committed to standing with Palestinian members of our community and supporting their right to celebrate their culture, express their identity, and participate fully in civic life. I believe municipal government has an important role in protecting inclusion, community participation, and the right to peaceful expression. Palestinian residents are an important part of our community, and they deserve to feel welcomed, represented, and heard at City Hall.