By Jeff Pelletier, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Nunatsiaq News
January 8, 2024
A group of Iqaluit residents held a second rally Saturday, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza as the war between Israel and Hamas enters its third month.
The group, numbering 17, met at the Four Corners intersection, marched to the legislative assembly, and then headed back to the intersection, where they briefly stopped traffic for about a minute.
They chanted several phrases including “Ceasefire now” and “We are all Palestinian.”
“We’re here today to try to raise awareness in Nunavut, Iqaluit, but also show support for the Palestinian people, and we won’t stop doing this until a ceasefire happens,” said Jennifer Lane, one of the protest leaders.
The current war in Gaza started after Oct. 7 when Hamas — a Gaza-based militant group which the Canadian government lists as a terrorist entity — launched an attack on parts of southwest Israel.
Approximately 1,200 people were killed in the attack and approximately 250 people were taken as hostages.
In retaliation, Israel declared war on Hamas.
Protesters in Iqaluit briefly blocked the Four Corners intersection on Saturday, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. (Photo by Jeff Pelletier)
However, the Israeli Defense Force’s aggressive military campaign is estimated to have killed 22,600 people according figures from the United Nations, and displaced 1.9 million, which represents approximately 85 per cent of the Gaza population.
Martin Griffiths, a UN emergency relief coordinator, said in a Jan. 5 statement that “Gaza has become a place of death and despair” as famine and disease worsens due to the lack of humanitarian aid.
In December, Canada was one of 153 countries that voted at the UN on a motion calling for a “humanitarian ceasefire” in the conflict.
Rallies in cities around the world have called for a ceasefire and for Israel to end its occupation and blockade of the Gaza Strip, which the UN described as an “open-air prison” in 2022.
While the gathering in Iqaluit was small, Lane said rallying for a ceasefire matters.
She said she knows people from Gaza who have been impacted by the war and the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and it’s important to show that people here care about what’s happening overseas.
“I think by bringing a community of people together here, we’re showing that resilience and care and steadfastness worldwide, that human rights matter,” she said.
“I think Palestinian rights are Indigenous rights to those lands and we’re on Indigenous land here, and if we’re fighting for the rights of Indigenous people in Canada, in Nunavut, we should be doing the same worldwide.”
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After the rally, some of the attendees headed to Iqaluit’s mosque for some food and coffee.