Letter to the Canadian Government and MPs Regarding Israel’s Unlawful Detention of Canadian Passport Holders Attempting to uphold International Law and provide Humanitarian Aid

RE: Israel’s Unlawful Detention of Canadian Passport Holders Attempting to uphold International Law and provide Humanitarian Aid

8 October 2025

Dear Prime Minister Mark Carney,

My name is Brad Evoy, I am a member of the Qalipu Mi’kmaq First Nation, residing in Toronto, Ontario and originally from Benoit’s Cove, Newfoundland and Labrador. I’m writing to you in my role as Executive Director of the Disability Justice Network of Ontario, based in Hamilton, Ontario—a founding member of the Disability Justice Networks’ Alliance.

I write to you with the gravest concern about Israel’s unlawful detention of several Canadian Passport Holders in international waters while attempting to uphold International Law and provide desperately needed aid to the Palestinian people in Gaza. The Canadian Government must now act to ensure the safety of these human rights defenders and all those who have sought to uphold our humanitarian obligations to the Palestinian nation. These obligations are of the highest importance and the actions of these human rights defenders need to be honoured with material action.

Canada has now moved to recognize a Palestinian state and has outlined clearly the need to uphold international law against genocide countless times. However, actual action from this government has been lacking. Words are not—nor have they ever been—enough. Right now, Mskwaasin Agnew, Sadie Mees, Nikita Stapleton, Khurram Musti Khan, Nima Machouf (and the over 100 other members of this flotilla) are all in immediate and real danger from Israeli authorities' illegal actions and their unlawful detention. We have heard time and again from other human rights defenders and from Palestinians on the ground of the immense violence and disablement brought against those imprisoned by Israel (including other Canadian passport holders)—as such, we demand that action be swift and decisive. 

It is not enough to speak and send thoughts, instead there must be consequences for the continued violation of international law brought about by the State of Israel. We know that international, Canadian, and even Israeli experts align on the knowledge that the genocide we are seeing livestreamed every day is real and requires international action. We know that the Israeli settler state has bombed every hospital, healthcare facility, and every piece of public infrastructure in Gaza, killing countless civilians, including children, parents, siblings, elders, and community members. And, we know that the current genocide is the latest phase of a settler colonial occupation which disproportionately targets racialized, sick, injured, and disabled people first.

But, Prime Minister, it is not enough to acknowledge any of this, anymore. Instead, we demand action. Disabled people in Palestine are our siblings and we know they have been particularly targeted. Local infrastructure and organizations built by and for disabled Palestinians are left to struggle amid famine and systems failure. Disabled Palestinian seniors, adults, and youth are all systematically targeted for direct and immediate harm, further disablement, and ultimately death by occupying forces of the State of Israel. We cannot ignore the responsibility and duty that all states—but especially those built on stolen land like Canada—hold to ensure that genocide and occupation are brought to an end.

In addition to ensuring the safe return of all those illegally captured—including but not limited to Mskwaasin, Sadie, Nikita, Khurram and Nima—I urge you to:

• Enact immediate and lasting sanctions on Israel.

• Put in place a two way arms embargo—without loopholes through trade to other countries—in keeping with the United Nations’ Closing Observations on Canada for the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities from March 2025 and countless other calls to do the same.

• Use all available diplomatic and economic resources to bring an end to the genocide and ensure that internationally recognized justice to brought against all those in Israel who have carried out these acts.

• Investigate and end pathways for funds to be delivered to carry out this genocide and support its systems, including through Canadian charitable organizations.

Since our founding in 2018, Disability Justice Network of Ontario has always sought to create a world where people with disabilities are free to be. This vision has always and will always be for all disabled people—including Disabled Palestinians—and we know that no body or mind can be left behind. In this spirit, I urge you to end complicity, turn your words into deeds, and to do all that you can to ensure that both these human rights defenders and all Palestinians are free.

With deepest solidarity to those who stand for justice, 

Brad Evoy

Executive Director, Disability Justice Network of Ontario

423 King Street East, Hamilton ON L8N 1C5

P: 289-780-3566 (DJNO)

E: brad@djno.ca 

W: djno.ca 

Our Body/Minds Must Be Fed

Responding to Israel’s Dehumanization of Disabled Palestinians in Gaza during Genocide + Famine

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1. Since March…

Israel has been blocking all aid into Gaza, creating a crisis on several fronts and deliberately starving the people of Gaza. Countless aid flotillas and marches have all been stopped before reaching Palestine as Israel maintains a constant stream of propaganda to downplay or bury these facts in popular media.

​​After Israel’s blockade of traditional aid channels in Gaza, it established the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) which has been criticized and condemned by the UN and other humanitarian organizations because of its militarized operations that serve as a death trap. According to the UN, 615 people have been killed near GHF distribution sites.

GHF also has a local connection, its spokesperson is Israeli restaurant owner Shahar Segal—whose assets include Toronto restaurant, Miznon.

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2. As Traditional Media…

finally acknowledges this famine, suffering, and genocide, Israel has responded with a renewed campaign to attack the experiences of children and youth in Gaza.

Recent media, like in the New York Times, have highlighted the experiences of famine in Gaza. Particularly, those of disabled children: Mohammad al-Mutawaq, an 18 month old boy, and Osama al-Rakab, a 5 year old boy.

This reporting highlights the stark realities of famine + the complicity of groups like the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in outright murder and further disablement.

We cannot allow the world to look away.

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3. The Western Gaze…

has once again settled on an intensely voyeuristic lens to create much of this media coverage on the struggle of Palestinian children in the grip of famine and genocide. The suffering experienced by Palestinians cannot become sensationalist fodder for journalists in the West to further exploit.

But, in spite of this, we cannot deny that such reports have brought renewed mainstream attention to the active, current actions taking place to further Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian nation.

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4. In the days since…

some of these reports were first made, however, so-called independent journalists and Zionist propagandists have put pressure on the New York Times and other outlets to highlight these children’s experiences of disability as the central cause for their current condition—not the famine or genocide. While they did not go as far as many fascists demanded, the New York Times did offer a partial correction to their cover story that included Mohammad. 

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5. The Defence that…

Israel offers the world, then, in response to these images and stories is that journalists have misled us: these children aren’t starving, they’re just disabled.

The active position of the Israeli state and their allies in the media is that suffering for our siblings’ body/minds is to be discounted, to be made lesser.

Disability does not discount or deflect from the reality of famine, violence, disablement, and death in Gaza or elsewhere across Palestine. If anything, it highlights these intentional acts all the more.

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6. Israel and its proxies…

in non-profit organizations and businesses like to pretend that they care about disabled body/minds.

We see their propaganda where they talk of their “spectrum of talent” within the IOF that murders our Palestinian siblings. We know that so much money flows into disability organizing in Canada and elsewhere—all earned from exploitation across Palestine.

But no matter how much accesswashing and carewashing the genocidal regime produces as propaganda, we know the truth from their words.

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7. We Know that:

   • Disabled body/minds need to be fed.

   • Israel is starving our siblings in Palestine.

   
   

No propaganda can change that.

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8. Resources:

For links to support organizations and to our past statements:

djno.ca/gaza

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Join the DJNO Board of Directors!

Who We Are:

The Disability Justice Network of Ontario (DJNO) aims to build a just and accessible Ontario and world where disabled people are free to be—a world and Province where disabled people:

• have personal and political agency

• can thrive and foster community

• build the power, capacity, and skills needed to hold people, communities, and institutions responsible for the spaces they create

We have been providing public education, policy analysis, and advocacy since 2018 by and for disabled people across Ontario. and are funded from various foundations and donations. You can learn more about our non-profit organization here: djno.ca

Our Board of Directors: 

The DJNO Board of Directors is made up of 10 members elected from the General Membership, including 8 from our Individual Members. The Board is responsible for ensuring the financial health of the organization, developing, ensuring adherence to our bylaws and policies, setting the strategic priorities of the organization, broadly overseeing operations and policy, supporting the youth action council and committees, and completing all administrative requirements.

The Board is also responsible for building relationships with our general members and community partners. We seek to provide leadership opportunities for those with lived experience and those who have a knowledge and analysis of disability justice issues across aspects of identity. As a small organization with a small staff complement, directors play an engaged role in advancing the organization’s aims.

What We’re Looking For:

We are seeking a new Board Member to join our team for the next two years. 

Given our organization’s current needs, we are seeking individuals with (1) strong community connections, (3) a passion for disability justice organizing, and (3) a strong background in non-profit fundraising. 

You should also:

• Support our Mission, Vision, and Values.

• Unreservedly agree with our Member Code of Conduct.

• Be ready to work collaboratively with Board Members and staff. 

• Commit, within a disability justice lens, to carry out the responsibilities of a Board Member.

Board members are expected to:

• Attend monthly meetings primarily via teleconference or videoconference.

• Attend the organization’s annual general meeting.

• Actively advise and support the organization in areas related to their expertise and experience, particularly fundraising.

• Participate in standing and ad hoc subcommittees.

• Treat matters of the organization with confidentiality and sensitivity.

• Act with honesty, integrity and openness in advancing the interests of the DJNO.

• Actively cultivate their familiarity with and understanding of disability justice.

Apply Here: