The ecumenical Just Peace group in Living Skies offers to local churches a new 90 minute YouTube video exploring why people in Gaza, in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, are starving and dying from a near total blockade on aid, continued military onslaught, and a medical system targeted for destruction. Your action is also urgently requested, and a short action is included below.
We ask you to view and share this video– very little of it is graphic, though it is certainly horrific. It helps us understand the depth of suffering, and the reasons for that. This video also calls for your firm commitment to action: calling on Canada to do its utmost to get aid flowing, and to put in place a real two-way arms embargo, and more.
In the video, three experts with church and Prairie connections describe how and why aid is being choked off, and note the enormous restrictions placed on aid groups. Most aid is currently channeled through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US group, whose operations have so far contributed to the deaths and injuries of thousands of Palestinians at aid distribution points. The horror of the situation is truly beyond words, which is why your action is requested. We thank our three resource people and our event facilitator for their words; learn more about them here.
On 21 July 2025 the government of Canada joined 24 other countries in condemning the aid regime and conditions. “The suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths. The Israeli government’s aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity. We condemn the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food,” the ministers wrote.
An invitation to urgent action
Canadian Friends of the Sabeel Centre for Liberation Theology is calling us to use our voices. If you have already written or called, please do so again, with faithful persistence. CFOS reminds us, “What would boost our impact even more is to have those who have not yet written send a message, saying they agree with the Canadian government’s assessment that “the level of human suffering in Gaza is intolerable” and urging the Prime Minister to make good on his promise to take action.
Here are printable templates of a message to Prime Minster Carney. You can use these to send your own message. More importantly, can you think of 10 people you know, who are concerned about what is happening in Gaza but have not yet contacted the Government of Canada? Please reach out to them today and invite them to send a message by mail. We purposely made the message simple and supportive, to appeal to as wide a spectrum of folks as possible.
Actions:
- Click here to print attached file double sided, cut off one message, sign it, place it in an envelope, and address it to:
Office of the Prime Minister, 80 Wellington Street, Ottawa, ON K1A 0A2. Mail it off, no postage needed.
- Send a message to friends, family, neighbours, church, and community acquaintances. Invite those new to raising their voices to use attached file 1 to send a message to the Canadian government. Make it a personal appeal. Follow up with a text or phone call!
- Print up extras of the mailing template and take them to friends, family, neighbours, church, and community gatherings. Invite those new to raising their voices to take part in this campaign. The file has multiple copies of the message, to help with more efficient printing for larger numbers.”
