Good afternoon. I want to begin by acknowledging the pain being felt by the thousands of Ontarians who have connections to Israel and Palestine. For Jewish people in our province and all around the world, the heinous attack on Israel was felt acutely, both by people with family and friends in Israel and by those who felt this as an attack on all Jews.

Six Canadians were killed in these terror attacks that we know of so far and two are missing. They are among the more than 1,400 people murdered in these acts by Hamas. We mourn them all. Some 3,400 others—that we know of so far—were injured; 199 Israelis remain hostages of Hamas, a terrifying reality that leaves their families in agony. I know some of their families, Speaker, are right here in our communities, in our province, and they are feeling that pain.

We in the NDP official opposition unequivocally condemn these terrorist attacks by Hamas on Israeli civilians. There can be no justification.

We have seen the ripple effects of this violence across the globe, including right here in Ontario, where Jewish and Arab and Muslim communities have seen a rise of hatred, increased police presence near Jewish community spaces and places of worship, the vandalism of mosques.

People in Ontario are very worried. Now, as the war between Israel and Hamas continues, they are watching in absolute horror as Palestinian civilians, who bear no responsibility for the actions of Hamas, are caught in a devastating siege. Some 2,778 Palestinians have been killed at this moment. A significant number of them were children. That number is already out of date as I say this, because we have reports coming in that thousands of Palestinians were killed just this afternoon in an air strike on a hospital in Gaza.

Nearly 10,000 people are wounded in Gaza and hundreds of thousands more displaced by an evacuation order, going without food, without water, without electricity and unable to leave. Here in Ontario, people are desperately trying to reach their loved ones, family and friends in the area. Others have already received devastating news and are mourning their loss and experiencing real pain. Members of this assembly, our staff, our constituents are all deeply impacted by this, and my heart is with them during this impossibly difficult time.

The region is spiraling, and Canada must act now to save lives. We are watching potential war crimes in real time, and the pain and the suffering we are witnessing is only going to get worse. As provincial legislators, it can feel sometimes like we are powerless to affect conflicts on a global scale, even as we see the reverberations here in our own communities. We can’t resolve this war in this chamber, but we can use the power we do have to bring people together, to acknowledge the hurt and work together in healing. This is a moment that this government could use our time here in this place to do just that.

I have to say, Speaker, unfortunately I don’t believe that this motion accomplishes that. That’s why we in the opposition worked in good faith. We put in a lot of time to put forward an amendment to this motion to recognize the scale of what’s happening and who is affected. It was an amendment that takes nothing, absolutely nothing, away from the motion that we are debating. I want to reference that addition because I think it will inform our debate on the main motion. It reads as follows:

“The House calls on the government of Canada to advocate for the immediate release of all hostages, the protection of all civilians in accordance with international law, an end to the siege and bombardment of Gaza, and for humanitarian aid to reach Palestinian civilians urgently and without restriction.”

That was added to the existing language. We didn’t try to change the language that exists there. We just wanted to add this because we think that by omitting this aspect of the current conflict, this motion that’s before us risks obscuring what’s happening in the region right now as we speak. Without this, I fear we won’t be meeting the moment we are in. Instead of bringing people together, we risk raising the temperature here in Ontario and, with it, the very real impacts on people in our communities. I urge the government to support our amendment or withdraw the motion and work with communities and all parties in this Legislature to bring forward a motion that truly unifies people. That would be true leadership.

Speaker, we cannot look away from what is happening in Israel and Gaza right now, and we need the federal government to be a voice for peace. Anything less would be a betrayal of our values as Canadians. Israel has suffered one of the most horrific tragedies in its history. They are still experiencing rocket attacks and evacuating parts of the country. People remain in a state of fear and vigilance. Palestinians are suffering on a scale we have never seen as a result of this siege of Gaza.

Canada must today insist on the respect of international law, of humanitarian principles and urge Israel to rescind the evacuation order as the United Nations has called for. Canada must continue to call for immediate release of all hostages and the protection of all civilians in accordance with international law. We must call for a ceasefire and an end to the siege and the bombardment of Gaza. With the rest of the international community, we must work to ensure humanitarian aid reaches civilians urgently and without restriction.

It’s about humanity, like finding the humanity in all of us in this moment, in a really difficult time. It’s a challenge for a lot of people who are hurting. I feel it. But all of us in this chamber, in our communities, we must condemn all acts of anti-Semitism and all anti-Palestinian racism. That includes any glorification or calls for the killing of innocent people, Israeli or Palestinian. These are difficult and perilous times. It’s difficult for many of us to even imagine the pain and the devastation—you know, when I wrote that, I thought to myself, actually, there are many people in this chamber who themselves I’m sure have experienced war and oppression. And I will say I think it’s inevitable that we bring those experiences with us and that they inform much of who we are. But things are not without humanity, because so many Israelis and Palestinians—medical workers, human rights advocates, humanitarians and just ordinary citizens—are doing what they can to preserve life in the face of such horror.

I want to challenge those of us in this chamber to look at what we can do to end the scourge of war and terror; to fight for peace; to bring people together, not tear them apart; and to never use this horrific conflict for domestic political gain.