Now with the election underway we encourage you to bring this issue to the attention of your local canadiates. Check out more details HERE.

Thanks to the 1000+ who took time to write to the Minister of Public Services and Procurement Anita Anand and Minister of Transport Omar Alghabra.You

During election, let all candiates know you insist the Canadian Government cancel the procurement process for the purchase of remotely piloted aircraft systems for surveillance.

The Canadian government is moving nearer to obtaining armed drones, worth $5 billion of Canadian taxpayer dollars.

Canadian government officials briefed industry partners on systems requirements which includes long-range surveillance and the ability to engage targets remotely, both considered important features to protect Canada as well as for participating in foreign missions.

According to Justin Ling of Vice News in 2020, this contract for up to $5B, would see the armed drones in the air by 2025.

We may be going into an election, but before that we want to let these current Ministers of Procurement and Transport know we are calling on them to cancel the procurement process underway for an estimated $5B contract for unmanned surveillance.

It is essential that civil-society groups are engaged in carefully scrutinizing the policies that would guide Canada’s military use of any drones for domestic surveillance and in foreign missions. This is even more essential when these unmanned devices may carry arms.

Armed drones threaten people’s lives around the world. Rather than making the world safer, they are used in extrajudicial executions, surveillance of targeted populations and other violations of human rights. Palestinians in Gaza live under a constant threat of armed drones, filling the skies nightly with their distinctive hum. Now, the Canadian government wants to spend taxpayer dollars to purchase armed drones – and one of the leading contenders was “battle tested” on Palestinian and Syrian civilians by the Israeli military.

The Canadian BDS Coalition, Just Peace Advocates and over 30 civil society groups have come together to urge immediate action by the Canadian government to stop the armed drone procurement process, and call on Canada to impose a two-way military embargo with Israel.

“Israel has used its arms industry to systematically control the Palestinian people and repress all Palestinian challenges to its military occupation and apartheid regime. Israel uses unnecessary, disproportionate, and excessive force while suppressing peaceful protests, at search-and-arrest operations, and at checkpoints, in complete disregard for Palestinian life. Israel’s excessive use of force is further evidenced now, as Israeli forces continue to attack Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian protesters throughout the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem and Palestinian citizens of Israel.”

"Port Authorities in Canada fall under the Ministry of Transport. As such, Minister Alghabra, allowing and enabling such Israeli apartheid profiteering makes both the ports and the Canadian government further complicit in the ongoing dispossession of the Palestinians."Thousands of people have already called upon you, Ministers Alghabra and Anand, to cancel the $36M Canadian government contract with Elbit Systems, another Israeli arms company selling weapons “battle-tested” on Palestinian and Arab civilians, for a remotely piloted aircraft system (RPAS) or drone.

We would also ask that all candidates of conscience running in the federal election take this stance.

#NoIsraeliArms4Canada #TimeForSanctions #BDS #MilitaryEmbargo #StopArmingIsrael

Organizations endorsing this campaign to date include:

Greater Toronto For BDS (GT4BDS)

Peacehome Campaign, Peace, Justice, Sustainability NOW and the Coalition to Divest Philadelphia from the War Machine

Letter campaign sent by

Just Peace Advocates

Campaign organized by