Workers at the Ottawa Hospital are asking senior management to have an urgent meeting regarding the hospital’s partnership with Ellis Don and Sheba Medical Centre. In an email to the management team, workers said the hospital’s decision to pull out of the capital pride parade raised questions.
After Capital Pride released a statement recognizing the ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, the Ottawa Hospital (TOH) was among many long-time partners who chose not to participate in the march.
“Given these developments, we are concerned about being complicit ourselves due to our employers actions,” the letter from hospital workers reads.
The letter outlines that Sheba Medical Centre has technology agreements with Elbit systems, which specializes in military technology. Ellis Don has a partnership with Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defence Systems Ltd. which is behind the Iron Dome’s missile technology.
In an email to rabble.ca, workers said they were “disturbed” the hospital has partnered with companies that support apartheid. They called attention to the rulings from the International Court of Justice earlier this year. These rulings found that Israel’s occupation and settlement policies are illegal and that Israel is plausibly committing genocide in Gaza. The court also advised states that they are under obligation to not provide aid or assist in maintaining the current situation.
“TOH workers are therefore worried that the hospital’s affiliation with Israeli institutions puts them at risk of being found complicit in the occupation and genocide,” one worker said in an email to rabble.ca.
The worker said themself and their colleagues have been turned into “cogs in Israel’s apartheid machine.” They asserted that human rights should not be an opt-in choice and a publicly funded employer should not align themselves with genocidal private companies.
“Beyond the possible legal implications, the TOH workers also feel an ethical and moral obligation to question the hospital’s choice to affiliate itself in a variety of ways with a state that is deliberately and repeatedly attacking healthcare workers and infrastructure in Gaza,” the anonymous worker said.
Workers at the hospital did not provide their names, citing risks to their employment.
Meral Aduli, an organizer with Labour for Palestine, said repercussions for taking a pro-Palestine stance are common. She said she has organized with workers who were “placed in precarious positions” due to their solidarity with Palestine. Labour for Palestine has supported TOH workers in their campaign against the partnerships with Ellis Don and Sheba Medical Centre.
“People are worried. This started with pride, which the hospital has been a part of for years,” Aduli said. “They showed their support for pride is conditional, so now people are wondering if their support for workers is conditional as well.”
Workers have a right to make these kinds of demands, Aduli said. Many of the workers who penned the letter to TOH are members of unions who passed Boycott, Divest and Sanction resolutions.
“Workers are within their right to demand that their employer follow through with decisions that their union made,” Aduli said.
Since sending the letter on August 28, neither workers nor Labour for Palestine have received a response from senior management. The hospital did not respond to rabble’s request for comment.
Aduli said she remains hopeful that the hospital management will meet with workers and learn about their concerns. But only time will show if they will implement the workers’ recommendations.
In the meantime, TOH workers intend to continue their push for divestment.
“It is our obligation as healthcare professionals to ensure that our workplaces are in compliance with our professional, moral, and ethical standards,” one worker said in an email to rabble.ca. “Further, we should be able to advocate for global health and human rights without fear of reprisal from our employers.”
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