A rally held by Vote Palestine Vancouver.
A rally held by Vote Palestine Vancouver. Credit: Vote Palestine Vancouver Credit: Vote Palestine Vancouver

In the past three years since the latest escalation of the genocide in Palestine, we have watched our provincial and national governments feign powerlessness and ignore the calls of their constituents to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people and cut ties with the Israeli apartheid regime. This necessitated and empowered initiatives like Apartheid Free Communities, that aim at mobilizing ordinary citizens to take action. 

But Why City Councils? Why Apartheid-Free Cities?

City councils are the body of government that is most accessible to us as ordinary residents. They are generally thought of as being responsible for “parks, pipes, police, and potholes.” However, as with every level of government, a municipality can be said to declare its moral and ideological commitments through their day-to-day operations, the priorities they set, and how they support the well-being of residents. 

Many of us have stories, especially in the past three years, of the Genocide in Gaza, of encounters with our MPs or MLAs not welcoming a conversation about Palestine. In order to build the movement that is needed to force the hand of provincial and national governments, we organize within our cities to show that courage and moral clarity on the issue of Palestine is a local issue. 

When we are asking our Council members to take a stand on Palestine, we are not asking them to go out of their way for Palestine or humanity. What we are asking is for our Councils to represent us as the ordinary residents of their city and show that the Canadian values of democracy, human rights, anti- racism and inclusion are not mere slogans, but ideals that can be put into practice at any level of government. Please read our AFC Municipal Package for more info

Palestine is a local issue

The pledge asks our local politicians to call out and acknowledge Israeli Apartheid that has been extensively documented by the firsthand testimonies of the people of Palestine. The crimes committed by Israel have been documented by the United Nations and the assessment of the Internqtioal Court of Justice confirms we are witnessing genocide. 

Eight decades of structural injustices that were not properly dealt with led to the Genocide we have been witnessing unfold in the past three years in Gaza. Calling out injustice is the first step, but we can’t stop there. It is our duty as human beings of conscience in this world to do something about it. The pledge specifically requests our municipal governments do what is within their power in our respective cities’ jurisdiction.

These structural injustices affect local residents in a variety of ways:

Local decolonization: The same tools used by settler- colonialism to commit the crimes of Apartheid and Genocide on Turtle Island, are being used in Palestine. Indigenous communities, whether on Turtle Island or Palestine, will no longer, and should not accept being talked about or for when it involves decisions affecting their lives and self-determination. 

Seeing active colonial frontiers in Palestine, Lebanon and Syria is a visceral confirmation of the harms done in the name of colonialism in so-called “Canada”.  

We want our governments to move beyond the performative land acknowledgments and truth and reconciliation slogans and make sure that the crimes of Canada’s origins are not committed anywhere else. The government can’t claim they are seeking truth and willingness to reconcile one Apartheid, while committing and enabling another. 

Global Environmental Damage: The extensive militarization in Palestine and the consequent ecocide taking place is affecting our world’s ecosystem, quality of water, air and soil. According to environmental experts, there are 61 million tons of rubble in Gaza at the moment. The kinds of chemicals used are still unknown as no experts have been allowed to go into Gaza to get samples of soil, water or air to conduct any research. So the amount and depth of damage caused is still unknown. People in Europe have reported change in the quality of air and weather since the beginning of the genocide. Please read International People’s Tribunal Verdict for more info.

Mental Health: Many local Palestinians and Canadian supporters of Palestinian human rights have been going through challenging mental health circumstance because of the Genocide unfolding, and in the realization that the Canadian government is enabling it. Many are hesitant to mention the actual reason for their deteriorating mental health when they seek professional help, because of the anti-Palestinian racism cases that are on the rise.

Anti- Palestinian Racism (APR) in Canada: According to The Legal Center For Palestine, cases of anti- Palestinian racism have increased across Canada by 600 per cent since 2022   These cases of APR are not only against local Palestinians, but also against Canadian allies who have been advocating against the Israeli Apartheid and Genocide in Palestine. These cases have been happening in our school and health care work systems, post secondary institutions and have been used as a way to silence people of conscience from speaking about the genocide that continues, unabated, under the guise of a “ceasefire”. 

Canadian City Councils have demonstrated that they will speak on international issues. It is a common refrain that city councils “don’t get involved” in foreign policy matters, but their track records say otherwise, for example:

  • Canadian Cities went above and beyond to support the Ukrainian refugees during the Ukraine- Russia war, again demonstrating how local municipalities can have a global impact. Please see a list of EXAMPLES HERE.
  • Canadian Cities took a stand against Apartheid South Africa: Please check this document dated 1987, of motions passed by Canadian Cities to oppose and work on dismantling Apartheid South Africa. Please find the Original Document here. And the ENGLISH TRANSLATION here.

In these actions, they demonstrate that our municipalities have the ability to speak out against war, occupation and apartheid yet lack the courage and moral clarity to do the same for Palestine. The people of Palestine continue to endure daily violence from the Israeli regime. Three years of unchecked aggression has led to the escalation of settlers violently displacing Palestinian families in the West Bank with the protection and assistance of the IOF. We need our elected officials to act. If not now, then when?

Canadians realize that everything that happens around the world is indeed a local issue

The Vote Palestine Vancouver campaign is an organic extension of the work of Apartheid Free Communities. 

Vote Palestine Vancouver is a grassroots campaign that aims to bring Palestine to the front and center in the municipal elections happening in October 2026. This campaign, co-organized by Palestine Solidarity Action UBC and Apartheid Free Communities, is endorsed by approximately 50 organizations, businesses and community groups. 

Since the campaign was launched in Vancouver, five other cities took the campaign on to their own cities. As residents of these cities, we are pledging to only vote for the candidates endorsing our four asks:

1- Condemning the Genocide

2- Signing the Apartheid Communities Pledge

3- Cut ties with Israeli Institutions including the checking the City’s contracts

4- Recognize the Arab Canadian Lawyers’ Association’s Anti Palestinian Racism definition 

—————

Please sign and/ or share the Vote Palestine petition links with the residents of the following cities!

1- Residents of Vancouver. SIGN HERE. 

2- Residents of Maple Ridge. SIGN HERE. 

3- Residents of Surrey. SIGN HERE. 

4- Residents of White Rock. SIGN HERE. 

5- Residents of Delta. SIGN HERE. 

6- Residents of Nanaimo. SIGN HERE. 

Read more at: www.votepalestinevancouver.org 

If you have never voted in a municipal election before, please consider voting on October 17. Your vote matters. It is time to see supportive candidates who value human rights and equality, being in power. We aspire to live in an Apartheid- Free World. And it always starts in our midst, in our cities. 

About Apartheid Free Communities: AFC is a growing network of over 430 pro-humanity diverse communities across unceded Canada representing masses of ordinary citizens taking a stand against the Genocide and Apartheid in Palestine. This is part of many more communities across 30 different countries.

The signatories range from indigenous communities, businesses, communities from the three Abrahamic religions, educational groups, social justice and creative communities like choirs, theatre and dance groups, to political parties and municipalities. On Turtle Island, there are sixteen municipalities who have signed the AFC pledge, including four Canadian cities.

Read more of Why Palestine is a Local Issue HERE. 

Read the AFC Municipal Package HERE. 

Vote Palestine Vancouver Team

Vote Palestine Vancouver is a grassroots campaign that aims to bring Palestine to the front and center in the municipal elections happening in October 2026.