Tell Trudeau: Stop Anti-Palestinian Racism, Replace Special Envoy Lyons

Released on June 8, Canada’s new federal Anti-Racism Strategy intentionally ignored the grave problem of anti-Palestinian racism! Making things worse, a political appointee tasked with countering racism has actually been propagating hateful misinformation about pro-Palestine protests, harmfully and maliciously defaming Palestinian Canadians and their supporters. Special Envoy Deborah Lyons was appointed by Justin Trudeau to fight antisemitism, but instead, has used her position to attack Palestinian Canadians and other critics of racist Israeli practices. This is entirely unacceptable: Lyons should be immediately replaced by someone capable of fighting antisemitism without promoting anti-Palestinian racism.

Join us and demand that Canada replace Special Envoy Lyons and stop perpetuating anti-Palestinian racism.

In October 2023, Justin Trudeau appointed former Canadian Ambassador to Israel, Deborah Lyons, to the position of Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism. As part of her mandate, Lyons promotes the controversial and anti-Palestinian International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism (IHRA). CJPME and countless other human rights and civil society groups have long warned that IHRA conflates legitimate criticism of Israel and Zionism with antisemitism. For this reason, IHRA is a threat to Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedom, as it targets political expression including criticism of Israeli policies and activism for Palestinian rights.

Making things even worse, Lyons has repeatedly spread misinformation about pro-Palestine protests, harmfully and maliciously defaming Palestinian Canadians and their supporters. Lyons’ lies, smears, and misrepresentations have been exposed in a new report by CJPME called "Defaming the Pro-Palestine Movement," which found that:

Special Envoy Lyons has consistently misrepresented Palestine protests as antisemitic, often falsely alleging that pro-Palestine protests targeted Jewish individuals or institutions while ignoring the organizers’ actual goals or rationale. This includes the false claim that protestors targeted a Jewish hospital in Toronto.

Special Envoy Lyons has consistently misrepresented pro-Palestine slogans, perspectives, and positions as antisemitic. For example, Lyons has misinterpreted the Arabic term “Intifada” and popular slogans like “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” to paint them as inherently and exclusively antisemitic, further suggesting that these forms of speech should be prosecuted by police. Lyons has even put forward the view that Canada’s December 2023 vote for a ceasefire at the United Nations General Assembly was antisemitic, even though it reflected a mainstream political view against war and genocide.

A significant part of Special Envoy Lyons’s role includes collaboration with Israeli officials. CJPME believes that this collaboration is particularly problematic at a time when Israel’s genocidal actions are being investigated by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and as the International Criminal Court is about to issue arrest warrants against Israeli leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity. This collaboration includes meeting with Israeli President Herzog, whose genocidal comments have been referenced by the ICJ, and with Israel’s far-right Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli, who leads a covert foreign influence campaign targeting Canadians with racist and anti-Muslim content.

By reiterating false claims made by Israeli lobbies against pro-Palestinian groups and protests, her office has engaged in a strategy to defame and delegitimize the Palestine solidarity movement based on misinformation and fearmongering, while encouraging excessive police force as a response. It is extremely troubling that a public official responsible for anti-racism work and policy is consistently spreading anti-Palestinian racism.

By misrepresenting protestors as antisemitic and supporters of terrorism, her comments and actions incite and embolden hate against Palestinian Canadians and their allies who are rightfully protesting genocide, occupation and ethnic cleansing. Join us in calling for Lyons to be replaced by an official who can combat racism in an intersectional manner rather than produce other forms of racism, including anti-Palestinian bigotry.