Nanaimo—Ladysmith MP calls for ceasefire in Gaza

Lisa Marie Barron (left), the NDP Member of Parliament for Nanaimo - Ladysmith, is calling for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. File photo: Mick Sweetman / CHLY 101.7FM

Lisa Marie Barron, the NDP Member of Parliament for Nanaimo - Ladysmith, is calling on the federal government to support a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip as it enters its third week. 

“We're seeing the impacts of a ceasefire not being called, we're seeing children and families and innocent civilians being bombed and dying. We need to see an end to that,” she told CHLY in an interview earlier this week.  

“We also need to see the release of all hostages, including the Canadians that are amongst them and getting them home. And then, of course, people need to see humanitarian aid to ensure that they're able to survive while this is unfolding.”

The entire NDP caucus signed a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday, saying “This is the worst crisis in the Middle East in our lifetimes – and your government is failing to meet this moment.”

The NDP is calling on the government to support a ceasefire and the release of all hostages, demand humanitarian access to Gaza, help Canadians leave the region, support investigations into breaches of international law, halt arms sales to Israel and help stop illegal arms transfers to Hamas, advocate an end to the occupation of the Palestinian territories and work towards a two-state solution, and work with partners on counter-terrorism in the region. 

Sara Kishawi moved to Canada in 2011 with her family, but she still has dozens of extended family members in Gaza who have had to flee with hundreds of thousands of other people as Israeli forces pushed into Gaza City this week.

“They are residing in another house with many other families, a two bedroom or three bedroom, holding up to 70 people. Everybody sleeps together, so it's not the best conditions, they have very limited access to food and water and that's been running out” she said. “However, my family is very fortunate right now that they do have a place over their head.” 

There are also widespread issues with communication and internet infrastructure in Gaza, sometimes leaving people waiting days to hear from their relatives. 

“We have been getting some messages of ‘yes, we're okay’ and things like that. So I'm happy my family are all alive right now,” she said.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke about the war in Gaza.

“We, of course, continue to unequivocally condemn Hamas of horrid terrorism and Israel has the right to defend itself.” he told reporters. “But the price of justice cannot be the continued suffering of all Palestinian civilians. We are deeply concerned by the catastrophic impact on the population in Gaza, particularly on children, which is why we are calling for humanitarian aid and water and fuel to flow into Gaza. We're calling on humanitarian pauses to allow that to happen. We're calling on the liberation of hostages, for aid to flow in and all Canadians and their families to get out of Gaza.”

Barron says that a humanitarian pause is not enough. 

“If people are still being bombed and not able to access a safe place, then the humanitarian aid can only go so far, we need to see people's lives being saved with a ceasefire,” she said.

Kishawi appreciates that the NDP are calling for a ceasefire.

“I'm glad they used the language of ceasefire, rather than humanitarian pause,” she said. “We don't need to get little food and water while being constantly bombed in Gaza. They need to have a ceasefire immediately.” 

On Thursday, Trudeau said that the government is working to get the approximately 400 Canadian citizens and permanent residents out of Gaza. 

“Obviously the Rafah crossing is an extremely complicated place right now,” he told reporters. “We're pushing on our friends in Israel and our friends and in Egypt, working with the Americans and others, to make sure that Canadian families get on the list. We're not going to stop until we get them out.”

Kisawhi says that none of her family in Gaza are Canadian citizens, but also that she doesn’t know anyone who wants to leave Gaza. 

“As Palestinians in general, we were not looking to get out of a war zone,” she said. “We're looking for the war to stop being on us.“

Barron says that the war in Israel and Gaza is spilling over into the local community and people are feeling unsafe.

“I am getting people in my constituency in Nanaimo—Ladysmith who are reaching out and are feeling fearful for their safety,” she said. “They're staying home, they're afraid to go out. They're afraid that they'll be identified as Jewish or Palestinian or Islamic and are staying home out of fear for their safety. So the implications of the tragic bombings and violence that's happening in Israel and Palestine are trickling right into our communities.”

According to a spokesperson for the Nanaimo RCMP, there have not  been any hate-motivated crimes reported to police since Oct. 7 but police are “monitoring the situation and providing outreach within the community.”

According to Statistics Canada there were 502 crimes motivated by hatred of Jewish people reported in Canada in 2022, while there were 108 hate-motivated crimes against Muslims and 172 reports of crimes motivated by hatred of Arab or West Asian people.  

Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.