My petition closed after its 30 day run with nearly 10k signatures. Here’s our sponsor, Mike Morrice (Kitchener Centre MP) presenting it in the House of Commons. https://youtu.be/U2sN4MS96gY
The government has something like 45 days in which to reply.
Thoughts:
In a day or two, the countries that have been pledging financial support for UNWRA pulled their funding because Israel made unfounded…
My petition closed after its 30 day run with nearly 10k signatures. Here’s our sponsor, Mike Morrice (Kitchener Centre MP) presenting it in the House of Commons.
https://youtu.be/U2sN4MS96gY
The government has something like 45 days in which to reply.
Thoughts:
In a day or two, the countries that have been pledging financial support for UNWRA pulled their funding because Israel made unfounded accusations about a tiny percentage of UNWRA workers. Months later, many have still not restored funding, even though no evidence to support the allegations has come from Israel.
Why does everybody believe Israel?
If you’re friends with a pathological liar, you need to learn to get the evidence before you believe.
Thank-you, Mike Morrice! It is great to have an Member of Parliament in Ontario that actually represents me, even if not actually in my riding! I was quite upset this morning when I started seeing those reports, so I was very happy to see your post.
Mike is the MP sponsor for my Petition to the House of Commons, asking the Government of Canada to restore UNWRA funding during this humanitarian catastrophe.
Canadian citizens and residents can sign my Petition e-4802
Thank-you so very much to everyone who has signed my restore UNWRA Funding Petition!
Imagine: 3,051 signatures in only 5 days!
And here I was wondering if my Petition would really be able to get enough signatures to get certified for presentation to Parliament in just 30 days. I knew very well that I’m not the only Canadian who cares desperately about the plight of Palestinians in Gaza, but I…
Thank-you so very much to everyone who has signed my restore UNWRA Funding Petition!
![PARLIAMENT OF CANADA
[logo] House of Commons
Chambre des Communes
Canada
Petition e-4802 (Foreign affairs) #UNRWA
History
Open for signature
February 12, 2024, at 2:03 p.m. (EDT)
Closed for signature
March 13, 2024, at 2:03 p.m. (EDT)
Member of Parliament
Mike Morrice
Kitchener Centre
Green Party Caucus
Ontario
Province/ Territory Signatures
Alberta 204
British Columbia 513
Manitoba 20
New Brunswick 17
Newfoundland and Labrador 26
Northwest Territories 4
Nova Scotia 90
Nunavut
Ontario 1,692
Prince Edward Island 14
Québec 406
Saskatchewan 39
Yukon Territory 2
footer: Saturday 17 Feb, 2:04 PM](https://whoacanada.files.wordpress.com/2024/02/petition-signaturesday5.jpg)
And here I was wondering if my Petition would really be able to get enough signatures to get certified for presentation to Parliament in just 30 days. I knew very well that I’m not the only Canadian who cares desperately about the plight of Palestinians in Gaza, but I didn’t know if I would be able to reach them. But it seems the people I’ve asked to sign and share have done a brilliant job of it.
And special thanks to Mike Morrice for sponsoring this!
While our democratic governments offer unconditional support to Israel, more and more people around the world have decided to hit the streets in peaceful protest for a Palestinian peace. We all have busy lives: nobody has time for this. I certainly didn’t have time to write a petition. But we have to do this.
Because we know what’s going on. Just as the Vietnam War played out in the living rooms of America, the War on Hamas is up close and personal, on our phones, tablets and computers.
With people being bombed, unhoused, displaced, starved and killed, the importance and urgency of the subject of this petition is staggering. Canada needs to restore funding to UNWRA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East)
The more signatures this petition receives, the more seriously the Government of Canada will take it, so please keep signing and sharing!
Petition to the House of Commons in Parliament assembled
Whereas:
• In 1949 the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) was established to carry out direct relief and works programs for Palestinian refugees.
• UNRWA is the primary provider of humanitarian aid: food, social services, healthcare, schools, refugee camps, and microfinance, sustaining the lives of millions of civilians,…
Whereas:
• In 1949 the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) was established to carry out direct relief and works programs for Palestinian refugees.
• UNRWA is the primary provider of humanitarian aid: food, social services, healthcare, schools, refugee camps, and microfinance, sustaining the lives of millions of civilians, more than half of them children, in the Palestinian territory of Gaza, blockaded by Israel since 2007.
• South Africa submitted an Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel) to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
• After considering both Application and oral arguments, the Court concluded genocide was “plausible.”
• In its January 26th Order, the ICJ cited UNRWA statements documenting dire conditions in the Gaza Strip, before introducing its fourth Provisional Measure:
• “The State of Israel shall take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the adverse conditions of life faced by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip;”
• Hours later, Israel leveled allegations against a dozen UNRWA employees, and Canada “paused” Humanitarian funding committed to UNRWA without waiting for an Investigation.
We, the undersigned, citizens and residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to:
live up to our obligations under the Genocide Convention, to prevent the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip from “deteriorating further before the Court renders its final judgment,” by
I’ve asked many people to sign petitions, but never started my own til now.
This is one of many bad things going on in the world today that could easily be stopped with political will. Unfortunately too many politicians in winner-take-all political systems like ours don’t actually represent us. Which is why we have to work so hard trying to get them to listen. And why so many people across Canada feel compelled to protest in the streets.
Genocide is the worst thing people can do to one another.
Israel has issued many orders to the people of Gaza since October 7, 2023. As a result, its attacks have laid most of Gaza to waste. The vast majority of the surviving population has been herded into Rafah, the last remains of a city in the Gaza strip. Today, more than a million people huddle in refugee tents that have no doubt been provided by UNRWA.
The genocide in Gaza is not just plausible, it is ongoing. And because it could be completed at any time, nothing is more important today.
That’s why it is so important to get 500 signatures as quickly as possible.
I am terrified that the end is imminent.
Which is why I am asking you to please sign this petition, and share it with everyone you know.
Thank you.
I love this video.
I love this guy… the guy in the hat is my husband Bob Jonkman, the 2019 Green Party of Canada Candidate in Brantford—Brant, Ontario. As Canada uses an archaic Winner-Take-All voting system (similar to the US, UK and Australia) he didn’t win. This time.
I love this song. It was a tiny tune created by my favorite contemporary musician, the talented Josh Woodward. Everything Josh creates is released with a Creative Commons Attribution license. This video is likewise CC-By.
What this means is that any Green Party can use it. Free of charge.
Liner Notes:
For those of you who aren’t up on the Canadian Greens, I’ll give you a little background.
The video is bookended by the GPC’s awesome leader, Elizabeth May. She’s been the leader for 13 years, and the fact our Green Party is doing as well as it is has a lot to do with that.
• Our Green Party’s “Green New Deal” was called “Mission: Possible,” and the opening line is something she said at the Kitchener GPC campaign launch.
• The minnows are swimming in Cypress Lake, at a favorite camping spot, in Bruce Peninsula National Park near Tobermory.
• The Tree planting footage was recorded in the spring in Paris, Ontario.
• The CC-By temperature visualization was created by Antti Lipponen from data provided by Berkeley Earth/Robert Rohde
http://berkeleyearth.org/
• The sign waving was in Brantford.
• The footage of Bob talking to people was at the Brant Greens booth at the Paris Fair. In the background, some of our volunteers are helping kids make their own buttons, a bit of gratis outreach we make as part of our community involvement.
• The Circle Dance was at a Rise for Climate event in Waterloo
• Bob joined Cambridge candidate Michele Braniff and friends at the Cambridge for for the first “Green Wave” segment
• for “the mountains” I used a clip of Paul Manly, recorded at the 2016 GPC Special General Meeting, before he became the second elected Canadian Green, now the re-elected Member of Parliament for the Nanaimo-Ladysmith Electoral District
• for “to the seaway” I used footage of the second elected PEI Greens MLA, Hannah Bell, speaking at the 2018 Green Party of Ontario convention in Guelph (alongside PEI Greens leader Peter Bevan-Baker)
• The second “Green Wave” begins with GPO leader Mike Schreiner “mainstreeting” in Kitchener with the 2018 provincial election with the five Waterloo Region Greens candidates (Bob Jonkman, Michele Braniff, David Weber, Stacey Danckert and Zdravko Gunjevic) …
• … then cuts to Milton candidate Eleanor Hayward and friends at Elizabeth May’s “Community Matters” town hall in Guelph
• Guelph candidate Steve Dyck speaking to the crowd at the 2019 Platform Release in Guelph
• “Together” takes us back in Kitchener, where southern Ontario GPC Green Candidates Steve Dyck, Michele Braniff, David Weber, Kristin Wright,
Collan Simmons, Stephanie Goertz, Bob Jonkman and Nicholas Wendler join GPC leader Elizabeth May and GPO leader Mike Schreiner in support of the Mike Morrice campaign launch
• Elizabeth May’s back again, tying it all up at the end with a punch line that was part of her answer to a question posed by the youngest Green Party member at the “Community Matters” event in Guelph
WRGreens second nomination meeting has filled our slate of 2019 WRGreens candidates. Congratualations!
Kitchener—Conestoga GPC Candidate
Kitchener South—Hespeler GPC Candidate
Mingling
Music
Networking
With all our candidates chosen, our 2019 candidates first official outing was the following Saturday’s pancake flipping team at the 2019 Elmira Maple Syrup Festival.
In 2015 WRGreens only female candidate was Michele Braniff in Cambridge. In 2018 we got closer to gender balance when Stacey Danckert ran in Kitchener Centre provincially. But now, in 2019, we are especially pleased to note the WRGreens gender imbalance now swings the other way, with 3 of our 5 (60%) candidates being women.
Congratulations to all our 2019 candidates!
Kirsten Wright speaks to the crowd
There was a packed house for the Kitchener Centre and Waterloo Green Party nomination contest, held at Descendants Brewery on Wednesday, 6 March 2019.
Green Party of Ontario Deputy Leader Abhijeet Manay
Green Party of Canada Organizer, Randi Ramdeen
Bob Jonkman, Kirsten Wright, Ian Graham and Mike Morrice
Music by Joni NehRita
Candidate Nominee Q & A
It was my job to prepare the ballot boxes and voting materials for tonight’s @wr_greens nomination meeting. Zero-emissions delivery coming right up! #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/Ro6H3fB0gH
— Sam Nabi (@samnabi) March 6, 2019
Returning Officers Matt Piggot and Dave Doulson
Congratulations to Mike Morrice for winning the Kitchener Centre nomination, and to Kirsten Wright for winning the Waterloo nomination!
And many thanks to all those from the Waterloo Region Greens who helped put on this event, the largest Green Party nomination contest in Waterloo Region history!