Petition to Member of Parliament Mark Gerretsen (Kingston and the Islands)

Whereas:

• Over 60,000 Palestinians in Gaza – including 18,500 children – have been killed by Israel since October 2023;
• Hospitals, schools, journalists, UN workers, and aid centers have been repeatedly attacked, in violation of international humanitarian law;
• Canada is a signatory to the Geneva Conventions, Rome Statute, and Arms Trade Treaty and is legally obligated to prevent war crimes and genocide;
• The United Nations, the International Criminal Court, and human rights experts have opened or supported investigations into war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza;
• The International Court of Justice acknowledged existence of a risk of genocide in January 2024 under the Genocide Convention, to which Canada is a signatory;
• Many genocide scholars and human rights organizations are in consensus that this is a genocide, including Israeli scholars and Israeli human rights organizations;
• Canada continues to export arms to Israel while offering diplomatic protection, as exposed by a ground-breaking new report found at https://armsembargonow.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Exposing-Canadian-Military-Exports-to-Israel_07292025_compressed-.pdf;
• Canadian arms shipments to Israel include hundreds of thousands of bullets shipped as recently as April 2025 and components of F-35s, the fighter jet being used to decimate Gaza;
• Inaction in the face of atrocities is complicity, not neutrality;
• Canadians across communities and Kingstonians have called for a ceasefire, an end to military support, and the protection of all civilian life; and
• So far, 32 senators and over 30 MPs across all parties in Canada have already signed on to an arms embargo on Israel.

We, the undersigned, residents of Kingston/Katarokwi, call upon MP Mark Gerretsen to:

• Call on the Government of Canada to immediately suspend all arms exports to Israel;
• Join the growing number of Canadian legislators in the federal government calling for a full and immediate arms embargo on Israel by signing on to the letter found at https://armsembargonow.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/ArmsEmbargo-MP-Letter-July2025.pdf and emailing info@armsembargonow.ca;
• Support war crimes investigations; and
• End his complicity in violations of international law.