Mississauga’s mayor is avoiding requests from the Jewish community to condemn and prevent a Remembrance Day-style vigil for the recently eliminated Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, scheduled to take place in the city in two weeks.
A group called “Canadian Defenders 4 Human Rights” has taken ownership of the planned vigil set for Nov 26, 40 days after the elimination of the leader of the listed terrorist entity that rules Gaza, Hamas.
The group uses the language and symbolism Canada and its allies have used to commemorate fallen war heroes.
“Lest we forget our heroes,” the flyer featuring Sinwar’s face and photos of poppies says. “Vigil for Resistance leaders.”
Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parish has made multiple posts about the event, which she claimed wasn’t planned.
At first, on Nov. 9, she shared a statement by the city, which said it was aware of the vigil being planned in Celebration Square on city property, and that it hadn’t issued a permit for the event.
“It is not the City’s practice to issue permits for vigils as Celebration Square is a public space, usable by the community,” the statement said. “Under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, groups have the right of freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. The City will not interfere with a peaceful vigil, as long as all laws and City by-laws are adhered to.”
The city said police, security services, and the Royal Canadian Legion were made aware of the vigil.
“While the Charter does protect the right of peaceful assembly, there is no right to violence, damage to property, or threat to the safety of others,” the statement said.
Parish then posted a statement on Remembrance Day from the Muslim Council of Peel, which “strongly condemned” the “divisive actions” of “social media accounts seeking to sow division within Mississauga and undermine the Parrish’s leadership.”
After speaking with the group to “track down” the vigil’s hosts, she claimed that “no organization exists, and no vigil is planned.” The statement claimed that “this attack on the Mayor” and those spreading the flier “serves only to distract from the genocide” in Gaza.
Genocide is an international law term, and no international court has found Israel guilty of the claim.
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, a Jewish advocacy group, said that the mayor was “missing the point” with her response to community uproar, and her posts only demonstrate her willingness to sanction a vigil that glorifies terrorists on public property.
CIJA noted that the mayor consulted only the MCP and did not speak to Jewish community members, and the letter she shared used “inflammatory language and falsehoods about Israel.”
“To amplify such divisive and untrue rhetoric is irresponsible and unacceptable,” the post said.
Once the vigil organizers came forward, CIJA renewed calls for the mayor to condemn and stop the vigil.
Rich Robertson, the research and advocacy director at B’nai Brith Canada, said the allowance of glorifying terrorists such as Sinwar is a Canadian issue, not just a Mississauga one.
“Yahya was a diabolical terrorist. He was a murderer and an evil man responsible for the deaths of hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent people,” Robertson told True North.
The Canary Mission, an antisemitism watchdog, highlighted the director of the CD4HR, Firas Al Najim, who made a promotional video for the vigil and has gone on Iran State television to promote it, where he said Sinwar would eventually be recognized as a hero.
Najim was arrested and charged with dangerous driving and other charges in 2022 after almost running anti-IRGC protesters down. He had, on multiple occasions, expressed support for the Islamic Regime in Iran and called for the death of anyone who opposed it.
“It is incumbent that our society and all levels of government denounce individuals like this and that we do not give credence to anybody who wishes to attempt to glorify or to justify his actions or the actions of the terrorist entity that he led,” Robertson said.
Parish did not respond to True North’s requests to comment before the deadline provided.
