Oxfam Canada’s reaction to the Government of Canada’s advisory to highlight risks associated with Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem

Last week Canada’s Trade Commissioner Service issued an advisory to Canadian businesses, highlighting the risk of complicity in engaging in economic and financial activities with Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which are illegal under international law. Settlement activity – including the rise in state-backed settler violence – violates human rights, international humanitarian law, undermines peace and security, and is extremely damaging to Palestinian society.  

While this advisory is a step in the right direction, the federal government must go further. 

Oxfam Canada recommends that, consistent with international law and Canada’s own foreign policy objectives, the federal government must enact legislation to officially prohibit commercial trade, financial investments, and the exchange of services with illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory. 

In addition, Canada should suspend the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement (CIFTA) that is indirectly supporting unlawful settlement activity. 

The law is clear – settlements are illegal. While advisories like that which Canada just issued are helpful, it’s time to go beyond and legislate an end to Canada’s complicity in illegal settlement activity. Not someday. Now.