Thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered on Parliament Hill Saturday afternoon to petition Ottawa to recognize a state of Palestine and enforce an arms embargo on Israel.
Jillian Bentley, 26, made the hour-long trip into the capital from her home in Almonte, Ont. She is frustrated by what she sees as a lack of attention to the issue by her local candidates.
“ It’s disappointing, because I think you kind of need to have your head in the sand at this point to not be aware [of what is happening in Gaza],” said Bentley, a graduate of Carleton University.
“If you’re someone who is in a position of influence … then you can’t say you don’t have the power to speak up.”
Within the Liberal Party, speaking up has become a fraught issue. Some Liberal MPs have characterized Israel’s actions in Gaza genocidal, while others — including Liberal Leader Mark Carney — have avoided using the term.
Internal discord
Israel’s protracted war against Hamas has been a lightning rod issue ever since the Hamas attack of Oct. 7, 2023. This attack resulted in an estimated 1,195 deaths, primarily Israeli citizens, according to Human Rights Watch. Since then, Israel has sought to dismantle Hamas and secure the release of hostages through air strikes and ground operations.
To date, the conflict has killed an estimated 50,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry. And it has displaced 1.9 million Gazans from their homes.
In Canada, the issue has been particularly divisive within the Liberal Party. In March 2024, the NDP introduced a motion calling on the then-Trudeau government to demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and to recognize a state of Palestine.
After tense negotiations, the Liberals amended the motion’s language to instead support a Palestinian state as part of a negotiated two-state solution. All NDP, Bloc Québécois and Green MPs supported the motion, along with most Liberals. The Conservatives and three Liberal MPs — Anthony Housefather, Ben Carr and Marco Mendicino, Carney’s current chief of staff — voted against it.
“We should not be passing motions that make a terrorist organization equivalent to a democratic state,” Housefather said at the time.
On April 8, the matter returned to the fore at a Liberal Party rally in Calgary, where an attendee shouted, “There is a genocide happening in Palestine!”
Carney replied, “I’m aware, which is why we have an arms embargo.”
When asked by a reporter the following day whether Israel’s actions in Gaza amount to a genocide, Carney said he had misheard the person’s remark. “I didn’t hear that word,” Carney said. “You hear snippets of what people say. I heard about Gaza … and my point was I’m aware of the situation in Gaza.”
On April 10, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took to X to demand a full retraction of Carney’s remarks.
Tom Deadman, a 31-year-old teacher who attended the Parliament Hill rally, described Carney’s equivocation on the topic as “a huge shame. It’s a huge disappointment.
“I think people were maybe optimistic with Carney, with a change of leadership, that we were perhaps going to have a government that takes more seriously the ongoing genocide that’s happening. It’s clear from his denial of the genocide … that he’s not willing to do that.”
Canadian Affairs sought comment from the Carney campaign about whether it views the situation in Gaza as a genocide, and what it thinks about Liberal candidates describing it as such. A spokesperson referred Canadian Affairs to remarks Carney made at an April 10 event in Brampton, Ont.:
“This question is in front of the International Court of Justice. The situation is a horrible situation. I will not, and I will never politicize that word or this situation.”
Various international bodies, including Amnesty International and a United Nations special committee, have asserted that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. A June 2024 Leger poll of Canadians showed nearly half of respondents view the situation in Gaza as genocide, while nearly a quarter do not.
‘Absent, silent’
At the rally, some protestors spoke about Canada having a moral imperative to adopt policies that prevent Israel from continuing its military action in Gaza.
“I think people’s collective consciousness opened up to the Palestinian struggle in October of 2023,” said Bentley, the Carleton graduate. “But we all know it’s been going on for way longer than that.”
In January 2024, Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly announced that Canada would no longer issue arms export permits to Israel. However, this freeze did not cancel pre-existing weapons permits.
“We don’t have a real arms embargo,” said Deadman, the Ottawa teacher. “We’re still selling parts for fighter jets,” he said, pointing out that Israeli-operated aircraft such as the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning are made using Canadian components.
Demonstrators march on Parliament Hill during an April 12 rally in Ottawa | Samuel Forster 
Demonstrators march on Parliament Hill during an April 12 rally in Ottawa | Samuel Forster Demonstrators march on Parliament Hill during an April 12 rally in Ottawa | Samuel Forster Demonstrators march on Parliament Hill during an April 12 rally in Ottawa | Samuel Forster Ottawa Police guard an intersection during an April 12 rally in Ottawa | Samuel Forster
With a federal election just weeks away, the Liberal Party’s stance on Gaza could be critical as it tries to win support from traditional NDP voters.
Vote Palestine, a self-described “grassroots, non-partisan campaign mobilizing people across Canada to support Palestinian rights and freedom during the federal election,” has published the names of candidates who have endorsed the organization’s list of pro-Palestine priorities. These priorities include imposing a two-way arms embargo on Israel, which would prohibit Canada from exporting and importing arms to the country, and recognizing Palestinian statehood.
Liberal MP Adam van Koeverden, who represents the Ontario riding of Milton, is one of 14 Liberal candidates who has endorsed the Vote Palestine platform. In a recent social media post, van Koeverden is seen calling the situation in Gaza a genocide while speaking at a mosque.
Joel Harden, an NDP candidate for Ottawa Centre, believes the Liberal Party as a whole owes voters greater clarity on its stance on the issue.
“ I don’t think they’ve been clear at all,” said Harden, who is running against incumbent Liberal MP Yasir Naqvi. “[At] a moment where Canadians, in the thousands and thousands … have gathered to demand immediate action to end all Canadian involvement in this genocide, the Liberal Party has been completely absent, silent, menacingly so.”
Harden, who represented the provincial riding of Ottawa Centre in Ontario’s legislature from 2018 until January 2025, says Naqvi could also be doing more to support affected constituents.
“I’ve been going to these rallies for 17 months,” said Harden. “I’ve been giving people hugs and listening to people cry and grieve, given the horror of what’s happening to their own families and loved ones. The MP needs to show up.”
Naqvi’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
Deadman says he views demonstrating as an act of duty.
“I’m out here, in part, for the kids in my classrooms who are from Palestine, who are from places that are facing war and violence across the world,” he said.
“And I’m out here because Canada’s complicit in that violence.”
Correction, April 15, 2025 4:35 pm: A previous version of this article stated that "Hamas killed an estimated 1,195 Israeli civilians and took 251 individuals hostage" during the Oct. 7 attack. The article has since been amended to state that the attack "resulted in an estimated 1,195 deaths, primarily Israeli citizens, according to Human Rights Watch."
I’m hoping whoever gets selected will put an end to the violent so-called demonstrations everywhere. We need to support Israel because that is supporting our civilization.