In late October, members of IJAN-Toronto and Women in Solidarity with Palestine (WSP) travelled to Ottawa to meet with Libby Davies, New Democratic Party (NDP) Member of Parliament for Vancouver East, British Columbia. A primary purpose of our meeting was to thank Ms. Davies for her support of the IJAN-Canada petition addressed to the Canadian government, demanding a change in government policy regarding Palestine. We had featured the petition at the Friday vigils for several weeks, gathering more than 500 signatures. Ms. Davies read out the petition in parliament on three occasions, thereby enshrining it in the Hansard, the official parliamentary record.

From August 7 to August 14, 2009 Ms. Davies was part of a delegation to Jordan, the West Bank and Gaza. The purpose of their mission was to assess the humanitarian situation and to report back to the Canadian government and the people of Canada. In addition to Ms. Davies, the delegation included Richard Nadeau (Bloc Québécois), and Borys Wrzesnewskyj (Liberal Party), as well as three members from the organization Code Pink. Based on their experiences during the mission, they produced a report and made seven key recommendations to the Canadian government, urging implementation:

"To the Government of Canada and our fellow Members of Parliament, we ask that you consider and respond to our recommendations. We invite open and measured debate on our recommendations and urge take-up and progress on the issues contained in this report." Click here to read the full report and its recommendations, and then click on the hot link (in pink) in the first line.

We had a latke- and dreidle-filled dance party with fabulous music by DJs Ang and Mika and raised money for the Gaza Freedom March. Funds raised were split between the March and the One Democratic State Group.

Fierce IJAN t-shirts for sale! We have some fabulous IJAN screen-printed t-shirts which we are selling for $10. Let us know if you want one!