Some lives matter. Some don't.
That is the only way I can make sense of the comments by David Lametti, Canada's new ambassador to the United Nations, in his refusal to recognize that a genocide is taking place in Gaza.
He says that Canada must wait until all the evidence is in – including the findings of the United Nations and the International Criminal Court.
Apparently, after we have had time to assess all the evidence, Canada will determine if Israel is guilty of the mass killings of Palestinian families. This is how Lametti explained his position to the CBC:
"This is certainly what we've done in other cases where a genocide has been recognized. There is an international body of authority that rules in that manner, and then Canada moves to recognize it. This is the position that Canada has taken for a number of years, and we think it's the right position."
It's a lie.
Within two months of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Canada's parliament unanimously recognized the attack as a form of genocide. Lametti was in the House of Commons then. His government voted to recognize genocide when the war was barely 70 days old.
In 2021, Canada's parliament overwhelmingly voted to recognize China's mistreatment of the Uyghurs. Although on that vote, Mr. Lametti skipped out.
The fact is, Russia and China are considered foes of Canada. Perhaps our rightful moral outrage was amplified by geopolitical considerations. When Russian atrocities were reported against the Ukrainian people, the Canadian government moved quickly to impose sanctions. We boasted of those sanctions and encouraged other nations to join us. Israel, on the other hand, has always enjoyed insider status.
Over the last two years, the world has witnessed brutal abuses by the IDF against civilians, journalists, doctors and aid workers. Canada has done little other than issue the occasional statement of concern.
No boycotts. No sanctions. No demands for the international community to take steps to stop the deliberate starvation of children.
Is the issue that the children being starved are Palestinian?
The message being sent is that some lives matter. Some don't.
It was astounding to hear Lametti say he was waiting for evidence from the United Nations when just over a week ago, the United Nations Independent Inquiry issued a report that found Israel guilty of four of the five acts that meet the test of genocide under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
This report had been two years in the making, beginning with the horrifying events of October 7. One of the findings of the report would be obvious to anyone with even a remote sense of what has been taking place: that Israel is guilty of "deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of the Palestinians in whole or in part."
As the newly appointed ambassador to the UN, Lametti would be aware of this report. And yet he told Canadian media that he is waiting for the UN to provide a finding.
He's stalling.
Some lives matter. Some don't.
So far, Canada's most dramatic action on the nightmare in Gaza has been to join Orban's Hungary and Trump's America in banning the Irish hip-hop group Kneecap.
The Carney government falsely claims that Kneecap is "amplifying political violence."
It is total bullshit. They have become incredibly popular with young people for calling out the genocide.
The Canadian government's attack on Kneecap mirrors a pattern in the UK where artists who speak up against genocide are targeted as supporting terrorism, while the government provides cover for the terrorist actions of Benjamin Netanyahu.
In an earlier piece, I wrote about my concerns that Prime Minister Carney has refused to call out American threats against Canada's participation in the International Criminal Court. By failing to stand up for international law, Canada is undermining our longstanding tradition of calling out genocide.
Canada on Notice: The Attack on International Law Is an Attack on Canada
Last week, Marco Rubio imposed sanctions against noted Canadian jurist Kimberly Prost, stating that her work with the International Criminal Court represented a "national security threat" to both the United States and Israel.
It is good news to see that Canada, like Keir Starmer's UK, has moved to recognize Palestine as a state. However, if the West doesn't take active measures to stop the genocide, such recognition will be little more than window dressing on an atrocity.
As I write this, Gaza is being destroyed brick by brick. Starvation and mass killing of civilians are mounting. If Lametti is playing the long game, he is playing it in human lives and Canada's reputation on the international stage.
All lives matter, David Lametti. All lives matter.
Genocide, well us Indigenous Peoples of Canada would know a thing or two about how that gets done. Demoralize the family back bone, the women, take their children away, in Gaza's case, starve the children, beat the culture, traditions, and language out of them, in Gaza's case, bomb them back to the stone age. Canada has never signed the UNDRIP because then that would mean they agree that they attempted genocide of the First Nations people of Canada, and they cannot sign onto that!! Canada has always been quite cowardly on the International stage because their outward appearance of being good, kind and forward thinking, is really challenged on that stage!
Thank you for exposing Lametti's shameful statement. That shame is the federal government's, which, oddly enough, has decided to recognize a Palestinian state that may soon cease to have any potential citizens.
Netanyahu has vowed that there will never be a Palestinian state. Face it, Israel's goal is to eradicate all the "vermin" and move in lock, stock and barrel. Do we really need more proof of its vicious and nefarious plan?