Workers should not be forced to commit war crimes

We must hold the Canadian Government accountable for lying and implicating workers in Israel’s genocide. 

The ground breaking report, “Exposing Canadian Military Exports to Israel”, released by the Arms Embargo Now (AEN) campaign, Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), and World Beyond War (WBW) on July 29th, 2025 reveals a disturbing trail of deception by the Canadian government. They continue to supply weapons and military equipment to Israel, a state committing genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza. 

According to the Report, “the findings confirm the continued export of military goods to Israel in 2025, despite repeated Canadian government statements asserting restrictions or prohibitions on such transfers.” The continued flow of military exports from Canada to Israel does not only  violate domestic and international laws, but in doing so implicates workers in Canada in war crimes. We are shocked to learn they are jeopardizing the safety of airline workers , and passengers, by transporting military exports to Israel on commercial civilian planes (Air Canada & Air Transit).

Commercial shipping data tracing direct shipments from Canadian manufacturers to Israel through July 2025, and Israeli Tax Authority (ITA) import data from October 2023 to May 2025, exposed the gap between the government’s rhetoric and the reality of continuing the supply of arms to Israel over the past 21 months.  All while knowing Israel was committing war crimes.

The AEN report identifies corporations across the country that have continued to manufacture and ship military goods to Israel during this period. Several are unionized. In all cases, these corporations have prioritized profits at the expense of the Palestinian victims of this genocide (most of whom are women, children and workers) and implicated workers in Canada in their complicity in war crimes, in contravention of domestic and international laws

Workers across the country go to work every day to support themselves and their families, many are struggling to make ends meet to keep up with rising cost of living. They do not go to work to support war crimes and to be accessories to violations of international laws that make them complicit in genocide and crimes against humanity. The ugly reality, exposed by this report, is that the Canadian government and employers are lying to workers and implicating them in horrific violations of international law.

It is time for workers to take a stand and it is incumbent on unions and the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) to support workers who say no to war crimes. 

We fully agree with unions that have declared that “statements are not enough” to end Canada’s complicity in the genocide. We can start with ourselves as unions by declaring all products, services and relationships with Israel as “Hot Cargo”, not to be touched by workers of conscience. 

Many national unions have already called for an arms embargo on Israel, including CAPE, CUPE, CUPW, NUPGE, PSAC, Unifor and most recently the CLC.  Now is the time to put policy into action. Like in the case of South Africa, Apartheid Israel, the corporations that sustain it, and the governments that enable it, need to be held accountable for their actions and there is no direct way to do so then through boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS).

Workers should not be forced to commit war crimes. We work to support our families, and not to provide labour for genocide.