We’re suing the Canadian government over illegal arms exports to Israel.

As the atrocities committed by Israeli forces mount, Canadians have expressed growing outrage that exports of Canadian arms continue to flow to Israel to enable these atrocities.

That’s why, together with a group of Canadian and Palestinian applicants, we have commenced proceedings in the Federal Court seeking an order that the Canadian government cease issuing permits for all exports of military goods or technology destined for Israel.

Background

In Canada, the export of arms is governed by a permit regime. Noone may export arms from Canada without a permit from the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Under section 7.4 of the Export and Import Permits Act, the Minister is prohibited from issuing a permit to export military goods or technology where there is a substantial risk that the items exported could be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international human rights law or international humanitarian law and/or serious acts of violence against women and children, and/or undermine peace and security. This provision implements article 7 of the 2014 Arms Trade Treaty, to which Canada is a party.

Further, section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms provides that noone may be deprived of life, liberty, or security of the person, except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice. It is a principle of fundamental justice that any deprivation of a section 7 right must be proportionate to the objective sought.

It is clear that Israeli forces are committing serious atrocities in the course of its assault on Gaza. On January 26, 2024, the International Court of Justice found that a “plausible” case for genocide being perpetrated by Israeli forces in Gaza was made out, and reiterated the obligation of States to prevent genocide. On February 23, 2024, UN experts released a statement warning that “[a]ny transfer of weapons or ammunition to Israel that would be used in Gaza is likely to violate international humanitarian law”, and urged States to immediately halt arms transfers to Israel.

Despite all this, Minister of Foreign Affairs Melanie Joly continues to approve a record volume of arms exports to Israel, in clear contempt of both international and Canadian law.

On January 28, 2024, we wrote a letter to Minister Joly notifying her that continuing arms exports to Canada were unlawful. The letter demanded a response from Canada confirming that it had stopped this illegal activity within fourteen days. We received no response to the letter.

On March 5, 2024, along with Palestinian-Canadians Hammam Farah, Hiba Farah, and Ayman Oweida, leading Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq, and a Palestinian applicant whose identity is protected, initiated legal proceedings in the Federal Court seeking an order putting a halt to Canada’s immoral and illegal arms exports to Israel.

The lawsuit is part of a growing trend of similar lawsuits filed in countries like the US, the UK, Denmark, and the Netherlands, where an appeals court found that “it is undeniable that there is a clear risk that the exported F-35 parts are used in serious violations of international humanitarian law”. Other countries like Spain, Italy, and Belgium have also announced that they have suspended arms sales to Israel due to the ongoing atrocities.

This legal challenge is a project of CLAIHR’s ad hoc Working group on the situation of human rights in Israel and Occupied Palestine, which was formed in order to use international human rights law to address the widespread atrocities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and other fallout since October 7, 2023. CLAIHR would like to acknowledge the hard work and contributions of Chair Karen Segal and other Working group members in making this happen, some of whom are listed below. If you would like to support CLAIHR’s important work on this and other issues, you can make a donation here.

Counsel
• Barbara Jackman
• James Yap
• Veromi Arsiradam

Litigation Support Team
• Lindsay Bailey
• Isabel Dávila Pereira
• Paul Fauteux
• Nabila Khan
• Sevda Mansour
• Henry Off
• Sukanya Pillay
• Susanna Quail
• Karen Segal
• Vibhu Sharma
• Andrea Sobko
• Joy Wahba
• Garrett Zehr
• Geneviève Zingg

Case Documents

• Press Release regarding new developments (April 8, 2024): ENG | FR

• Notice of Application (March 5, 2024)
• Letter to Minister Joly (January 28, 2024)