“Canada can do better.”
National Canadian church leaders, including Moderator the Right Rev. Dr. Carmen Lansdowne, marched on Parliament Hill in Ottawa today, issuing an urgent call for the federal government to support an immediate and sustained ceasefire in Gaza, the establishment of a life-saving flow of humanitarian aid, and an end to all arms transfers to Israel.
The coalition of church leaders included the United Church Moderator as well as the Rt. Rev. Andrew Asbil, Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Toronto; the Rev. Dr. J. Dorcas Gordon, Principal Emerita of Knox College, The Presbyterian Church in Canada; the Rev. Susan Johnson, National Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada; the Rev. Douglas Klassen, Executive Minister of Mennonite Church Canada; and Leah Reesor-Keller, Transitional Executive Director of KAIROS Canada. They are part of the Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimage: Canadian Churches for Just Peace, an initiative organized by KAIROS Canada and its member churches, and builds on the Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimage.
KAIROS Canada and its member churches and agencies, which collectively represent 4 million Canadians, have long-standing partnerships with civil society organizations and churches in Palestine and Israel.
At the conclusion of the march, the church leaders held a press conference that was broadcast on CPAC, sharing their concerns about the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza that is happening during the war between Israel and Hamas.
“Canada can do better. We can avoid being complicit in genocide by imposing a comprehensive and binding embargo on military trade with Israel,” said Moderator Lansdowne.
“I join here with my siblings in faith and our membership gathered here in Ottawa today, to not just wish for a better world, but to actively advocate for a just peace in Palestine and Israel.”