On behalf of three Canadian-Palestinians, the Coalition for Canadian Accountability in Gaza (CCAG) has issued a demand letter to Canada’s government.
The substance of our clients’ demand
In its letter, the CCAG accuses the Trudeau government of violating its duty under the Genocide Convention to prevent genocide in Gaza, and infringing its clients rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The CCAG demands that Canada take adequate steps to comply with the Genocide Convention and the Charter by no later than April 3, 2024. If Canada fails to comply, the CCAG will commence legal proceedings against the government to enforce its clients’ rights.
Legal Team
As a member of the CCAG legal team, I’m honoured to be working alongside eminent Canadian lawyers, including Professor Faisal Bhabha of Osgoode Hall Law School, Yavar Hameed of Ottawa, Shane Martinez of Toronto and Asaf Rashid of Halifax. We are acting in this matter on a pro bono basis, pursuant to our commitment to the human rights of the Palestinian people.
Justice for Canadian-Palestinians
As stated in our demand letter, our clients were born in Gaza and came to Canada later in life, leaving behind many members of their families. Israel’s relentless bombardment of the Gaza Strip has killed many of them. One of our clients has lost seventy-four members of his extended family. Another has lost both parents, two siblings and other members of his extended family. All three of them have struggled to bring surviving family members out of the besieged enclave to Canada.
Despite massive public pressure, Canada’s government is flouting the Genocide Convention and the Charter rights of our clients. Should it continue to do so, we will appeal to the Courts for justice.
This is our full demand-letter in English (the French version of the letter follows the English version):
Version Française
It is a welcome move. I suspect the eventual answer will be evasive. It is therefore certain that it will have to go to court. I am not too certain of the jurisdiction here and the length of the process.
Hi Mr Lascaris…What you do now is so important! Thank you so much to do as much as you can to stop this Palestinian holocaust! I have tried to translate (French) and sharing your demand letter with a software, but I can’t- the software (deep) translate only the letter presentation, but not the demand letter itself- is it possible to send me a copy of the demand letter to translate for sharing it with French people? Thank you again!!
Hello Daniel, let me look into this and get back to you. Peace, Dimitri
Daniel, we have translated the letter into French and I have now added the French version to this article. Thank you for your patience. Dimitri
Great work Dimitri! Thank you for keeping the pressure on our despicable government. Truly our leaders and supporters of this genocide reveal the sickness of Canada as a nation that pretends to stand for human rights!
Excellent work. Please let us know if and how to make a donation should this go to court.
This is wonderful news. I would love to help. Fetch coffee. Anything!
Tony
Dimitri
You walk that difficult righteous path
Your efforts both protect the innocent and remind the political class that law must be wed to justice
Stay safe
Thank you for helping during a time where most the Western governments been exposed as genocide enablers.