The staff entrance to Whitehorse city hall. Photo Courtesy of Macklen Linke/CKRW.
WHITEHORSE, YT – The Whitehorse Council Chambers were packed at this week’s city council meeting, as more than 20 people from all walks of life had signed up to speak on the topic of solidarity with Palestine.
For nearly two and a half hours, Mayor and Council heard from public delegates on the matter. Many speakers, like Molly Swain, condemned Council’s recent decision to quash a notice of motion brought forward by Councilor Michelle Friesen requesting that the Mayor to write a letter to Prime Minster and Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly requesting a ceasefire in Gaza and an arms embargo on Israel.
Swain returned to speak as a delegate this week after being ejected from last week’s council meeting for touching on the topic of Palestinian solidarity during a presentation to council on the City’s curbside recycling program
‘Procedural abuse in the service of settler colonialism is something that indigenous people are well familiar with. And that’s what we saw last week when Council prevented councilor Friesen’s ceasefire motion from being discussed and voted on… a motion brought by an indigenous counselor, supported by indigenous Whitehorse residents, to stand in solidarity with an occupied people being exterminated in a settler colonial genocide. We were told that not only did this not warrant discussion, but that discussing it was contrary to the purpose of council as a governance body’ – Molly Swain
Others delegates, like NDP leader Kate White, spoke to council about double standards in Canadian politics when it comes to Israel and Palestine. White also pointed out that By-law Officers had been stationed in the council chambers on the days when Palestinian solidary was set to be discussed, and questioned why Mayor and Council would approve a sister city agreement with Chortkiv, Ukraine but stopped short of calling for ceasefire in Gaza.
Rick Karp, the president of the Jewish Cultural Society of the Yukon, was also in attendance at last night’s meeting, and he called it a truly shocking experience. Karp says it was a painful to hear misinformation about Israel shared freely and accepted as fact at face value, particularly when it came to delegates attempting to justify the October 7th Hamas attacks on Israeli civilians, and little to no recognition of the Israeli hostages who remain in Hamas captivity. Karp also had significant issue with the heavy use of the slogans “From the river to the sea” by many delegates, and pointing out the antisemitic origins.
‘The leadership of the PLO, Hamas, Hezbollah, and others, are funded by countries such as Iran. The primary rationale for their existence, especially Hamas, is the destruction of the State of Israel and the elimination of the Jews. That is their mandate. This is expressed by from the river, the west bank of the Jordan River, to the sea, the Mediterranean Sea, and for that area to become the Palestinian state. In other words, no more Israel and no more Jews.’ – Rick Karp, President of The Jewish Cultural Society of the Yukon
