Good Sunday Morning!
This is a week within which many critical decisions about the future of human civilization will depend. The US Election has obvious and huge implications for the climate crisis, geopolitical stability, the rise of bully-boy politics benefiting from racism and misogyny (bully boys-in chief Trump, Putin, Netanyahu). So I am sure you, like me, are in a state of some anxiety. Many good friends are making calls for Democrats Abroad. My colleagues in the European Greens took an unprecedented step in calling for US Green Presidential candidate to step down and endorse Kamala Harris. Only on that news did I discover the US Greens have officially left the Global Greens as a member party. As a personal opinion, when asked by the Toronto Star, I agreed with the effort of European Greens.
Meanwhile other global events are scarcely noticed by Canadian media, The 16th Conference of the Parties on Biodiversity took place in Cali Colombia. You may recall the Montreal COP15 negotiations that led to huge pledges for protection of Mother Earth. The 16th COP wrapped early Saturday morning through the less than promising development of a quorum call and discovering, having run into overtime, too many delegates had already left. Still it accomplished a lot. One key win was the establishment of a permanent body to represent Indigenous peoples in Biodiversity Convention negotiations.
For more details, here is the summary from the very reliable and authoritative source, Earth Negotiations Bulletin:
“It was a long journey. The last day of the meeting had it all and ended in suspension. Following painstaking negotiations in the Working Groups, closed-door deliberations on the main agenda items, joy and drama in plenary, and early-morning negotiations on the budget, COP President Susana Muhamad suspended the meeting at 8:27 am on Saturday morning.”
While on the topic of protecting nature and biodiversity, I spoke in the House on Thursday to call for greater urgency in protecting the Salish Sea and our local harbours from derelict and abandoned vessels, and the unregulated spread of buoys. I was prompted to do so by the excellent testimony Monday to the Standing Committee on Fisheries from Bob Peart representing Friends of Shoal Harbour. Every few months I get a 60-second opportunity to speak to an issue of my choosing. Here is my statement supporting Saanich Inlet Protection Society and FOSH, Peninsula Streams and so many great local volunteers.
My work last week in demanding action on the evidence that the federal regulator of pesticides, the Pest Management Regulatory Agency, had colluded with neonic manufacturer Bayer as reported in the National Observer, has had an impact. Based on my question in QP last week, the government has launched an investigation! Health Canada probes claim that government officials helped pesticide company overturn a ban on neonic pesticides.
My question this week also called for an investigation, this time calling for an immediate, independent investigation into the tragic death of a Canadian mother of six identified only by her initials “FJ” who had been in a prison in Northeast Syria. FJ’s children had to accept forcible separation from their mother, as a condition imposed by this government for their repatriation. But there will never be a happy reunion. Canada barred her return. Recently, having escaped to Turkey, FJ died under mysterious circumstances in a Turkish jail. I knew of FJ from my friend Senator Kim Pate and Alex Neve, formerly head of Canada’s branch of Amnesty. I had been invited to go with them to Syria on a humanitarian mission. I did not go, but feel connected to these tragic and unfortunate cases. I asked for the Minister to commit to that investigation, and also to immediately repatriate all remaining Canadian detainees in NE Syria. I have come to be friends with the mother of one such detainee, dual Canadian and UK citizen Jack Letts. His mom Sally has been through hell. Her son has never been charged or tried for any crime, but once in the horrors of ISIS held areas there are no real laws to hang on to. I will keep trying. We have gotten some of the children and women out, but we have to get them all to safety – before we have another such preventable tragedy.
My question on FJ here.
I was also busy this week working with MPs across party lines to press Canada to do more for peace and against the ever-expanding conflict … We wrote the following letter to the PM (signed by Liberal, NDP, Bloc and Green MPs). As I get so many letters and emails on what I am doing to try to end the carnage, I am sharing the letter with you here:
October 30, 2024
Prime Minister,
As Members of the Canada-Palestine Parliamentary Friendship Group we are saddened to be writing to you again as war continues to rage in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon. We feel compelled to draw your attention once again to this vital humanitarian issue. To begin, we would like to thank you and Global Affairs Minister Melanie Joly for your clear call for a cease fire, and for the recent announcement of financial assistance for refugees fleeing the conflict in Gaza. This answers a key call from the community for support for people fleeing the war zone. We urge you to continue working with like-minded countries and allies to broker a cease fire and support calls for de-escalation and the release of all hostages and prisoners to their families. We ask you to give your strongest consideration to the following requests:
- Recognition of the State of Palestine.
- Implementation of IRPA and Magnitsky sanctions on the Netanyahu government for its clear violations of international law.
- Revise Canada’s stance on Israel’s conduct when taking military action, given the extreme level of destruction and civilian death caused by the IDF.
- Support a resolution at the United Nations calling for peacekeepers to be stationed in Gaza as part of the development of mechanisms to ensure civilian protection.
- Make clear Canada will not accept any law passed by the Israeli Parliament that would prohibit the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) from doing its vital humanitarian work, and that banning UNRWA would result in the strongest diplomatic reaction by Canada.
- A clear and unambiguous, two-way arms embargo in line with the motion adopted by Parliament on March 18, 2024. Like you, we believe that there must be peace and a viable two-state solution with a free and democratic Palestine living in peace alongside a free and democratic Israel. We urge you to use all diplomatic tools at your disposal to work for this just outcome.
Sincerely,
MP Salma Zahid, Chair MP, Mario Beaulieu, Vice -Chair, MP Alexandre Boulerice, Vice-Chair, MP Elizabeth May, Vice-Chair
In Green Party of Canada election news, if you are a member PLEASE look for your ballot in your in-box to vote electronically in the federal council election! You must vote by November 14.
And in real election news, our candidate in Guelph was nominated November 2! I am confident she will be the next MP for Guelph!! Guelph is represented provincially by Ontario Green leader Mike Schreiner! Another double Green riding is in the works! See her bio below!! Amazing and so proud Anne-Marie has decided to join Mike Morrice and me (and soon to be many more) in Parliament.
Dr. Anne-Marie Zajdlik is a Family Physician and regional HIV specialist. She is the founder of ARCH clinic Guelph and Waterloo, two provincially funded HIV/AIDS clinics. Dr. Zajdlik is the founder of Bracelet of Hope, a charitable community-based organization that raises awareness of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa and funds for HIV/AIDS relief in Lesotho, Africa. She is a previous board member of the Ontario Hospital Association’s OHAfrica project and member of the OHAfrica Canadian Medical Team that helped open the first HIV/AIDS clinic in Lesotho in 2004. Bracelet of Hope’s efforts are now focused on the care of 49 AIDS orphans and vulnerable children in six foster homes and the implementation of health care in remote areas of Lesotho through mobile health units that provide primary and HIV care. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Zajdlik shared relevant medical information through her blog and Facebook page to 40,000 followers. She was a member of The Guelph-Wellington-Dufferin Public Health Unit’s Physician Advisory Committee that helped inform the region’s COVID-19 response. Dr. Zajdlik is a recipient of the YMCA’s Women of Distinction Lifetime Achievement Award, Rotary International’s Paul Harris Fellow, an Honorary Doctors of Law, Medicine from the University of Guelph, an Honorary Doctor of Science from McMaster University, and the Guelph Mercury’s Female Newsmaker of the year in 2005. She was inducted into the McMaster University Alumnae Gallery in 2011. She is the recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012, the Governor General’s Meritorious Service Medal in 2016 and the Order of Ontario in 2010.
And saving the best for your Good Sunday Morning for last!!! At 11:06 PM on October 30, my daughter Cate, after such a hard long labour, gave birth to the most beautiful baby girl ever (and doesn’t every grandmother say that!) Her name is Lily (weighing 7 lbs 9 ounces) and she and Cate and Reed are now home at their own apartment and settling into life as a new family. I will head back to Ottawa as one of Cate’s best friends from Halifax will be here for this week for back up.
Let’s hope and pray next Sunday’s letter will have more happy news!
Love and prayers for peace,
Elizabeth
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