As the world commemorates International Human Rights Day on December 10, we pause to reflect on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Genocide Convention, both adopted in 1948 by the UN. In addition, December 9 was the International Day to Commemorate Victims of Genocide, a solemn reminder of humanity’s pledge to prevent such horrors from recurring. These days were meant to symbolize our collective commitment to dignity, justice, and the sanctity of life. Yet, in 2025, Canada’s adherence to these ideals feels like a cruel farce.
For more than two years, Israel’s brutal and devastating campaign in Gaza—widely described as genocide by experts, the UN, the International Court of Justice, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch—has exposed the hollow core of Western nations’ self-proclaimed role as guardians of human rights. Canada, once a beacon of rule-of-law and moral leadership, stands accused of criminal complicity in the systematic destruction of Palestinian lives.
The scale of the atrocities in Gaza defies comprehension. According to the Geneva-based NGO Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, by early November 2025, over 75,000 Palestinians had been killed, with 30 per cent of them children, and more than 173,200 wounded. These numbers, staggering as they are, may understate the true Palestinian death toll. An analysis by Australian scholars Gideon Polya and Richard Hill, published in the summer of 2025, estimates over 680,000 Palestinian deaths from Israeli violence, starvation, and disease—a figure echoed by UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese. These are not mere statistics. They represent shattered families, obliterated communities, and futures erased. Since the fall of 2023, Canada has enabled this carnage through inaction and active support, betraying the very principles it claims to uphold.
Where is Canada’s outrage? Our government’s silence on this genocidal racism is deafening, especially when contrasted with its swift condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This double standard reeks of the same white supremacist and racist logic that fueled Canada’s own historical genocide against Indigenous peoples. Today, that racism manifests as anti-Palestinian hatred, permeating our government, academia, corporations, and mainstream news media.
Canada’s refusal to label Israel’s actions as genocide, despite overwhelming evidence, further underscores this bigotry. Organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have condemned it unequivocally. The United Nations, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and even Holocaust scholars have said that “never again”must apply universally. These experts see Israel’s military assault in Gaza as a textbook case of genocide, yet Ottawa turns a blind eye. The only plausible explanation for Canada’s inaction is a deep-seated anti-Palestinian animus and racism that prioritizes geopolitical alliances over human lives and upholding international law.
Even the fragile October 2025 ceasefire has done little to stem the violence, exposing the West’s—and Canada’s—indifference to Palestinian suffering. While Israeli hostages have been released, Israel continues to kill Palestinians. Hundreds have died since the truce took effect, including 33 civilians killed in a November 19 military incursion on Khan Yunis as they queued for food. Just this past week, two brothers—aged 8 and 10—were killed by an Israeli drone for crossing an invisible line near where Israeli troops were situated, only to be posthumously framed as “terrorists” by Israeli forces. These incidents are not anomalies, they are part of a pattern. In the face of this, Canada does nothing to enforce the Genocide Convention it once championed. Instead, it enables the horror.
Under both the Justin Trudeau and Mark Carney governments, Canada has authorized the sale of weapons components to Israel, directly fuelling Israel’s genocidal death machine. Our leaders are reluctant to arrest or charge Canadians who have travelled to Israel to join the Israeli Occupation Forces. Moreover, the government has failed to move quickly to revoke charitable status from dozens of Canadian charities that funnel funds to Israel.
As children, we were taught that monsters lurked in fairy tales—shadowy figures defeated by heroes. As adults, we confront a harsher truth. Monsters are real. They wear suits and ties, wielding power. Disturbingly, some are our own political leaders, steering the nation toward complicity in yet another genocide. Their actions stain Canada’s soul with the blood of innocent Palestinians, echoing our dark history of Indigenous dispossession and racial injustice.
But despair need not define us. Those with intact moral compasses—ordinary Canadians from all walks of life—must unite to reclaim the just society envisioned by former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. If our leaders falter, it falls to us to ignite a political revolution to challenge them or replace them. We must demand immediate action–an arms embargo on Israel, comprehensive sanctions, divestment from complicit entities, prosecutions of war criminals—including Israeli political and military leaders—and restitution for Palestinians whose lives have been devastated.
Beyond these measures, we need systemic change. We require politicians with unwavering moral integrity, who defend human rights equally for all, regardless of ethnicity or faith. Canadians once played a critical role in drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Genocide Convention. It’s time to honor their legacy by channelling the morality of those visionary Canadians who dreamed of a world free from oppression and injustice.
On this Human Rights Day, let us not merely commemorate ideals but live them. By opposing genocide unequivocally and championing the rights of all people, we can avert the abyss of inhumanity. Courage and unity can forge a Canada that truly stands as a global exemplar of justice. The choice is ours–complicity or redemption. For the sake of Palestinians—and our own humanity—let us choose the path that defends human rights equally and upholds justice for Palestinians and all oppressed peoples.
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