Canada must recognize that artistic labour is labour. It is intellectual, cultural, and spiritual work that enriches society and deserves structural recognition. Immigration policy must account for the contributions of artists, scholars, and community builders whose work does not fit neatly into economic categories but whose impact is undeniable.

Canada once stood apart by challenging apartheid and asserting an independent foreign policy, even against US pressure. Now, as Washington sanctions Canadian ICC judge Kimberly Prost for pursuing Israeli war crimes cases, Ottawa stays silent. Once a supporter of international justice, Canada appears to prioritize trade and diplomacy over moral leadership.

The West may now be finally waking up to the full enormity of the horrors Israel has inflicted in Gaza. It needs also to wake up to the evils it has nurtured not just for the last two years, but for over a century. It is time we started listening to Palestinian voices, while there are still Palestinians left alive to speak truth to power.

Zionism is the underlying ideology that is heaping unfathomable misery upon Palestinians. For this reason, Zionist organizations should not play a role in shaping public policy in Manitoba. For Zionist ideology to maintain influence in Canada, voices supporting Palestine are often silenced, frequently through accusations of antisemitism.

If it does not want to remain complicit in Israel’s crimes, Canada must immediately apply all means of political and economic pressure at its disposal. There are many things it could do, including recognizing the State of Palestine, joining in actions before the international courts, terminating economic and military agreements, and breaking off diplomatic relations.

How can the Canadian Jewish left urge faith leaders and institutions to publicly stand against Israel’s genocide? As more and more Jews are realizing that Israel’s unrelenting war on Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank is not being waged to keep Jews safe, either in Israel or around the world, they are supporting the growing calls for aid and a ceasefire.

This is the end. The final blood-soaked chapter of the genocide. It will be over soon. Weeks. At most. Two million people are camped out amongst the rubble or in the open air. Dozens are killed and wounded daily from Israeli shells, missiles, drones, bombs and bullets. They lack clean water, medicine and food. They have reached a point of collapse.

Toronto’s new bubble zone anti-protest bylaw is both more and less dangerous than it may appear at first glance. Less because the bylaw’s enforceability and constitutionality are shaky, more because this provision needs to be understood as an example of the lawfare being wielded against pro-Palestinian solidarity and other left movements.

One of the most remarkable—not to say shameful—features of the last 20 months of carnage in Gaza has been the near-unanimity of support for Israel’s assault from Western governments and political parties of otherwise sharply opposed persuasions, regardless of how criminally Israel has conducted its “war.”

If we wanted to create a world where everyone has affordable housing we would. We would take a track similar to France, Austria, or Finland and work to undo cultural stigmas against renting and social housing and use non-market alternatives to provide decent homes for all. But our leaders have made it clear that they have no interest in following this path.