Gaza Walk for Peace

Oakville Gaza Peace Group is holding a rally at 3 pm on Friday, March 29, 2024 at Oakville Town Square near the Clock Tower before walking to the office of MP Anita Anand with a list of demands.

Photo Credit: Mervyn Russell

Oakville Gaza Peace Group is holding a rally at 3 pm on Friday, March 29, 2024 at Oakville Town Square near the Clock Tower at 94 George Street at Lakeshore Road.

Event organizer Mervyn Russell, told Small Change that, “The organizers of this rally are saying, ‘Enough is enough.’ What is happening to the people of Gaza is probably genocide or, even more certainly, crimes against humanity, the two most serious crimes in the world.”

While Canada supported the recent United Nations Security Council’s call for a ceasefire during the holy month of Ramadan, Oakville Gaza Peace Group would like to see that ceasefire extended.

“We must build on that decision and demand that Canada go from words to action by devoting its influence and diplomacy to making a mutual, immediate permanent ceasefire a reality,” stated Russell.

Participants will hear from Canadian Palestinian lawyer, Lena El-Malak, who has worked with United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestinian Refugees as well as the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in Jordan.

Lena El-Malak is the daughter of a Nakba survivor and has a PhD in Public International Law on the Rights to Reparation of Palestinian Refugees.

Dr. Aliya Khan, a Professor of Clinical Medicine, Divisions of Endocrinology and Metabolism and Geriatrics at McMaster University and Director of the Calcium Disorders Clinic at McMaster University Medical Centre, who has also worked with Palestinians in the Middle East will also address those in attendance.

With an emphasis placed on the equal value of Palestinian and Israeli lives, Oakville Gaza Peace Group recognizes the need for a ceasefire to end the starvation and lack of medical services in Gaza.

Over 32,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The agency does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count, but numbers show that two-thirds of the dead are women and children.

Gaza is also in the midst of a famine in northern Gaza with over 2.3 million people on the brink of starvation.

There remains the imminent threat that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will invade Rafah where Palestinian refugees were sent for safety from the conflict.

Oakville Gaza Peace Group recognizes the need for Canada to support the decisions of the International Courts of Justice as well as the need to stop the expropriation of Palestinian lands and the resulting homelessness Palestinians face.

The event is the second march that Russell has organized this year. His previous event, held January 7, 2024, brought close to 70 participants together to support the call for an immediate ceasefire.

As Russell explained, “We gathered because we believe that human rights and international law apply to Palestinians as much to any other people and that, therefore, the ever-increasing slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza must be stopped. We want a ceasefire now!”

As with the previous rally, this one will end with a march to the office of MP Anita Anand where a list of demands will be left including a collective call for an immediate, mutual ceasefire.

Oakville Gaza Peace Group is also demanding that Canada unequivocally condemns and opposes the expropriation of land and the destruction of established Palestinian communities in the West bank and East Jerusalem along with the displacement of the people in order to construct illegal Israeli settlements. Canada must also refuse entry to any persons associated with these oppressive and illegal activities. 

“This call is also being sent to MP Pam Damoff, MP Bill Blair, MP Melanie Joly and PM Justin Trudeau with emails sent to follow up on these demands,” Russell said.