Letters For Ceasefire

Posted: December 6, 2023

Taking the lead of organizations like Latitude 53, Wildseed Centre, InterAccess, PSAC, Independent Jewish Voices, SURJ Toronto, and countless others, as well as thousands of individual arts and cultural workers, Union Gallery’s core staff is speaking out in solidarity with Palestine and offering letter-making resources for those who would like to take action.

JOIN US

Following Latitude 53, we invite you to send direct letters to Ottawa. We are targeting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and local MP Mark Gerretsen to demand a permanent ceasefire, an end to the occupation of Palestinian territories, and an immediate termination to Canada’s support of Israel’s military forces. You can join us in two ways: 1) visit the gallery and send a postage-free form letter directly to the House of Commons, or 2) write your own letter and send it via faxzero.com using any smartphone or device. The more letters we send, the more we will be heard.

We acknowledge that many members of our community have family and loved ones directly impacted by the ongoing deadly siege. As leaders of a gallery and cultural hub centred in equity and inclusion, we must stand against settler colonial violence and honour our ongoing commitments to anti-racism and Indigenous sovereignty.

To quote InterAccess, “Rather than citing nuance as a reason for staying silent, we decry the conflation of valid criticism against violent state action by Israel and Zionist perspectives with anti-Semitism, anti-Judaism, or any kind of anti-Jewish sentiment. This is not a matter of partisanship, but of supporting basic human rights. We assert that, while self-determination is a basic right, it does not give license to the systemic oppression and disenfranchisement of others.”

With the temporary ceasefire lifted and the death toll continuing to rise, now is the time to speak out and support our Palestinian neighbours.

Signed,
Abby Nowakowski, Program Director
& Morgan Wedderspoon, Gallery Director