Peace rally

Rally: Stop the War 

Say No to Islamophobia

Refugees Welcome Here

When: December 5, 2:00 PM

Dundas Square



Don’t let the Paris attacks lead to more war and Islamophobia

REFUGEES WELCOME HERE



Since the horrific attacks in Paris, many are calling on the Trudeau government to renege on its commitment to bring Canada’s bombers home from Iraq and Syria and to cancel plans to bring 25,000 refugees into Canada. We cannot let the attacks create more war and racism.



Refugees are fleeing the same kind of violence that we saw in Paris. They are also victims of this perpetual war – not the perpetrators of the conflict. They have already seen too many attacks, whether in Beirut, Damascus or Kunduz and are trying to get away from that conflict.

The western-led bombing campaign in Iraq and Syria has not stopped ISIS but each bomb dropped brings more misery to the people there and more recruits for ISIS.

The rise of ISIS is directly tied to the illegal and immoral US invasion of Iraq in 2003 that killed over a million people and created the conditions for ISIS to rise up in the first place.

Each western intervention in the region – from the bombing of Libya to the arming of various Syrian groups has bred more terror. More of the same bombing will not change those conditions but will make things worse. Soldiers sent to train are in fact combat troops and are in the line of fire. Any expansion of trainers is a dangerous example of mission creep.

It is an open secret that our “allies” in the region, including Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar, have been funding and arming ISIS. It is shameful that Canada has decided to arm those same people that are helping ISIS.

The backlash against Muslims in Canada will only fuel more hatred and isolation for Muslims in the west. This fuels the type of division that ISIS is trying to perpetuate and will further a cycle of endless war and terror.

We call on the government of Canada to:

- Immediately end all bombing by Canada and bring the CF-18 fighter jets home from Iraq and Syria now. Bring Canadian soldiers home and cancel plans for more trainers to be deployed to the area.

- Open the borders and maintain the commitment to bring 25,000 refugees into Canada by the end of this year.

- Cancel the $15 billion arms shipment to Saudi Arabia.