On April 27, Human Rights Watch (HRW), published its report on the systemic persecution of Palestinians by Israel. The 213- page report accused Israel of apartheid and crimes against humanity as defined by the Rome Statue of the International Criminal Court and international conventions.  The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Canada’s publicly funded broadcaster, failed to cover the HRW report on Israel despite receiving an advance copy according to a recently published commentary in Aljazeera, by Andrew Mitrovica on May 15, 2021.  CBC thus failed to inform the Canadian public on the gravity of Israeli abuses of Palestinian human rights, thus colluding with the Israeli government. This came at the time when it is most crucial to provide some context to the current escalation of violence between the Palestinians and the Israeli state.

CBC must launch an investigation into how the decision of not covering the 2021 HRW report was made, including whether there has been any political interference in making this decision.  CBC must provide adequate coverage of the 2021 HRW report on Israel in the near future and ask pressing questions to current government officials and members of parliament on their position on this report.  Furthermore, CBC must explicitly commit to an unbiased, fair, and transparent reporting policy of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

The CBC is a publicly funded institution. As part of its mandate, CBC should “reflect the multicultural and multiracial nature of Canada” and contribute to a “shared consciousness and identity”.  By ignoring the 2021 HRW report on Israel, CBC has offended and marginalized a large segment of Canadians who pride themselves on Canada’s role in the world as a peacekeeper and a supporter of international conventions on human rights.

Please, ask CBC for answers now by supporting this petition.