A vigil that was scheduled to be held in Mississauga, Ont., in memory of Yahya Sinwar—the Hamas leader responsible for the Oct. 7 attack on Israel—will not occur on the originally scheduled date according to social media posts from the group which had organized it.
In a letter dated Nov. 16, shared on social media, Canadian Defenders 4 Human Rights (CD4HR), the group organizing the vigil for “the Great Martyr Yahya Sinwar, our Mandela”, announced it would not be happening for “several reasons—primarily the security and safety of our city Mississauga.”
The group also said members were going to be volunteering on “the urgent food security issue declared three days ago.”
CD4HR wrote that it had been assured by the City of Mississauga that it could hold the event on another date. “Lest the Pro-Israel lobbies and their supporters think they intimidated us in any way. Freedom for Palestine,” said the post.
The group did not respond to The CJN’s request for confirmation that the event was postponed or further details about their efforts on the “food security issue.”
Flyers promoting the event, which was to occur two weeks after Remembrance Day, provoked the ire of Canadians by using an image of the poppy and the motto ‘Lest We Forget’ on its promotional posters.
After letters from the Royal Canadian Legion, which pointed out its trademarks reserved for fallen Canadian soldiers and veterans, the group redesigned the poster.
The vigil in memory of Sinwar, who was killed in Gaza during an IDF attack in November, attracted national attention after Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish stated that organizers did not need a permit to hold an event on city property and that the vigil was protected under Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
“The group planning the Nov. 26, 2024 event at Celebration Square is afforded Charter rights, regardless of public opinion or perception of the cause,” Parrish wrote to B’nai Brith Canada on Nov. 16, before the vigil was cancelled.
City security officers and Peel police officers would be present, the mayor said. “Any violence, threats of violence and other criminal behaviours, including hate speech, will not be tolerated and will be fully investigated.”
The mayor’s office did not reply to questions from The CJN, or to a request for an interview.
At a council meeting last week, Parrish said the city needed to follow the advice of its legal counsel.
“My job is to consult with my lawyers and do exactly what they tell me,” Parrish said. “I just want to point out that I’m not being facetious. Nelson Mandela was declared a terrorist by the United States of America until the year 2008. Your terrorist and somebody else’s terrorist may be two different things, but I am extremely careful and I do not step out of line.”
In a video on social media advertising the event, CD4HR had compared Sinwar, who was known as the Butcher of Khan Younis for his role in torturing and killing alleged Palestinian informants, to Nelson Mandela, the first post-apartheid president of South Africa. Mandela, who led the African National Congress, was imprisoned for 27 years.
Hamas was designated a terrorist group by the federal government in 2002.
“Under Sinwar’s leadership, Hamas carried out the horrific atrocities of October 7,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on social media when Sinwar’s death was confirmed by Israel. “Today delivers a measure of justice for his victims and their families. Sinwar’s death ends a reign of terror.”
Even though the vigil is off for now, it is little comfort to Mississauga’s Jewish community.
“I would like to see an apology. It’s been deeply disappointing how this has come to be. We have a great relationship with our city council and our mayors,” said Rabbi Audrey Pollack, leader of Solel Congregation in Mississauga.
“Things have really changed. It’s a concern that we have a mayor who is so misinformed.”
Solel, a Reform temple which has 220 family members, has been deeply involved in interfaith efforts in the diverse community. The synagogue was one of the founders of the city’s food bank and other initiatives. Before COVID, Solel had hosted a week-long multi-faith summer camp.
An annual Shabbat service that encouraged non-Jewish residents to attend was cancelled this year because of security concerns, Rabbi Pollack said. In the past, local politicians attended this event, and previous Mississauga mayor Bonnie Crombie made several public appearances at Solel—including its menorah lightings during Hanukkah.
While anti-Israel rallies are almost a weekly occurrence in the city, this one was different, she said.
“There’s a difference between the kinds of protests that we’ve seen and a vigil that identifies Sinwar as a hero, as a martyr, that uses the symbols of Canada, the poppy and the phrase ‘Lest We forget.” and celebrating a known terrorist and a known terrorist organization.”
Several advocacy groups, including the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, and Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center had contacted the mayor’s office to argue the vigil should not be allowed on city property.
B’nai Brith Canada, which had written to the mayor before the event, agrees the city’s Jewish community deserves both an apology and a retraction from the mayor for her remarks at the council meeting.
“Canada has very clear guidelines for who is and who is not a terrorist in this country and her comments undermined those guidelines and I think that it’s important for the mayor of a major Canadian city to retract those statements,” Richard Robertson, B’nai Brith’s director of research and advocacy said in an interview with The CJN.
The planned vigil violated several of the city’s own guidelines, including forbidding events that “have the potential to incite violence and/or hatred” as well as events that conflict with the city’s “core values or vision,” said a letter from B’nai Brith sent to the mayor on Nov. 15.
“We ask you how an event honouring and glorifying the actions of the leader of a listed terror group does not have potential to incite violence and hatred?” stated the letter.
The mayor’s letter in response did not answer any of B’nai Brith’s concerns, said Robertson, who believes the issues raised by the now-cancelled event in Mississauga are a lesson for municipalities across the country.
“It’s been over a year since Oct. 7. We understand these have been difficult situations for our municipal leaders to handle, but it’s time for them to start utilizing the tools available to them to curb some of these inciting protests.
“All of this discussion centres around the need for our civic leaders to do their part and to take accountability to curb some of the unacceptable behaviours that are compromising the fabric of our society.”
