In solidarity with the people of Gaza, Kelowna residents gathered at the intersection of St. Paul Street and Cawston Avenue on Oct. 22, to walk in silence.
Debbie Hubbard, a member of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East Okanagan Chapter, helped organize the event.
“We’re gathering to show the people of Palestine, particularly the people of Gaza, that as Canadians we are aware and are in support of them, and secondly to show our Canadian government that we want them to take action.”
The group gathered at 3:30 p.m. and walked around the downtown area, stopping at the courthouse and MP Tracy Gray’s office where poems were read aloud in both Arabic and English.
Haneen, who asked to be identified only by his first name, participated in the march as an immigrant from Palestine.
“I am the grandchild of three Palestinian grandparents who were part of the people who were forcefully displaced from their land in 1948 in Palestine and my family hasn’t been able to return since.”
Haneen said the walk allowed people to grieve while building community and spreading awareness.
“This is a wonderful step, however, I don’t feel that overall the support and outrage has been present in this country. Canada is a country that is built on settler colonial genocide and as a result, has its obligations to speak up against settler colonial genocide in other places. So, I hope this is the beginning of something bigger.”
Although Haneen doesn’t have any family currently in Gaza, he calls every Palestinian family and is mourning the loss of each individual as he would a family member.
“We take a lot of time talking about Truth and Reconciliation, which I think is really, really important, and if we want to as a country move forward and talk about Truth and Reconciliation and make movements toward helping the Indigenous communities and giving them a voice and platform, we need to extend that to Indigenous communities all over the world and that includes the Palestinians.”
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