Mark Carney talks about recognizing Palestine, but that recognition is so hedged with constraints that it risks stripping Palestinians of genuine agency.
Carney has the what seems to be the highest popular support of any G8 leader. His support is strong and broad-based by historical standards. That stands out. He has the opportunity to do the right thing - something different than just catering to the economy (i.e., the wishes of the wealthy)
If he would just use his juice, I reckon he'd deliver a speech like this. (He never will)
“A New Measure of Courage”
My fellow Canadians,
There comes a time in the life of a nation when we are called upon to match our principles with our actions. Not just to say what we believe, but to stand by it firmly, clearly, with no double talk and no hesitation.
For generations, Canada has told the world that we believe in dignity, fairness, and peace. That is who we are. From our peacekeepers who once wore the blue helmets of the United Nations, to our parents and grandparents who opened their doors to refugees from every corner of the earth, our story has always been one of people who try to do the right thing, even when it is hard.
Now let us be honest. For too long, we have looked at the conflict in the Middle East and hoped it might sort itself out, that peace might come with time, that maybe it was not our fight. But while we looked away, while the world hesitated, too many families have been torn apart. Too many children, Palestinian and Israeli alike, have known war before they have known peace.
And let me tell you something plain: the numbers do not lie. The scales of suffering have not been balanced. The Palestinian people, generation after generation, have borne the weight of displacement, destruction, and despair. Their voices have been muffled beneath the noise of war and the indifference of diplomacy.
Now some will tell us: “Recognize Palestine, yes, but only if they agree to this condition, and only if they surrender that right.” My friends, that is not recognition. That is control dressed up in the costume of compassion. Sovereignty means dignity. It means agency. And if we Canadians, with all our talk of freedom and fairness, cannot recognize a people on their own terms, then we have lost sight of what those words mean.
Let me be clear: Canada’s friendship with Israel remains. We will always support her right to exist in peace and security. But friendship is not flattery. A true friend does not stay silent when you wander from the path of justice. A true friend calls you back to it.
And so I say: to recognize Palestine fully, unconditionally, as the equal of any nation is not to betray our principles. It is to live up to them.
Now I know some are afraid. They say it will cost us influence, or friends, or dollars. But let me tell you, Canada has always been at its best when we chose principle over convenience. From standing against apartheid in South Africa, to welcoming the Vietnamese boat people, to fighting side by side against fascism in the last great war, we have never been diminished by choosing justice. We have been strengthened by it.
And what about us, here at home? What can we do, ordinary folks in small towns and big cities? We can raise our voices. We can remind our leaders that a policy without compassion is no policy at all. We can show, by the way we live, by the way we spend, by the way we talk to our neighbours, that peace is not a dream. It is the daily work of decent people.
My friends, history does not wait politely for us to be ready. It moves on, with or without us. The question before us is simple: will Canada be remembered as a country that whispered its principles in private, or one that proclaimed them boldly in public?
I believe we are still the Canada of Lester Pearson’s Nobel Peace Prize, the Canada that stood with Mandela, the Canada that ordinary people around the world still look to for fairness.
And I believe that if we act now, clear-eyed, compassionate, and courageous, we can help light the way to a future where two nations live side by side, equal in dignity, equal in sovereignty, equal in hope.
That future is not someone else’s responsibility. It is ours. It is Canada’s. And it is time we claimed it."