Open letter sharing concerns with World Conference on Indigenous Peoples
August 19, 2014Convention on Biological Diversity draft flawed
September 11, 2014Read an FAQ about our positions on boycott, divestment, sanctions (BDS).
In 2009 Canadian Friends were in unity on a minute (official position) about Israel/Palestine which, among other things, acknowledged violence by both Israelis and Palestinians but recognized the huge inequality of power between them. Our minute calls on all people not to put their faith in tanks, or bombs or military aggression, which we know will never ensure the security or well-being of any society until there is a positive peace grounded in justice and equality for all under the rule of law. We also expressed our encouragement for those Palestinians and Israelis working nonviolently to resist the occupation.
That 2009 minute did not, however, include support for any aspect of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign. After significant further discernment by many Meetings from across Canada, in 2014 an addendum to the 2009 CYM minute was approved by Friends.
The addendum states:
- We authorize Canadian Friends Service Committee, Ottawa Monthly Meeting, and well-informed individual Friends to make information on Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions available to Monthly Meetings and individual Friends who request it and/or feel led to participate in some way.
- We call upon the Canadian government to require that products made in the illegal settlements be accurately labelled as such.
- We encourage Canadian Friends, individually and corporately, to boycott products of illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, including those wrongly labelled as “made in Israel.”
The separation wall – Bethlehem, occupied Palestinian territories (2013)
Download the original 2009 minute on Israel/Palestine.
Download the 2014 addendum.
Learn more about CFSC’s work in Palestine/Israel.
