Canadian health care workers accuse Trudeau government of 'complicity' in Gaza genocide

HAMILTON, Canada

A group of Canadian health care workers accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government of being complicit in Israel’s genocide in Gaza due to its inaction.

"One year ago, we demanded the Government of Canada publicly demand for a cease-fire, that the Canadian government publicly condemn Israel for targeting hospitals and targeting health care workers, and that the Government of Canada publicly condemn Israel for widespread violations of international humanitarian law, including the crime of genocide," Ben Thomson, a public health, nephrology and general internal medicine doctor, said at a news conference Tuesday on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

Thomson, who was most recently in Gaza during September 2023 and March 2024, said their demands were ignored by the Trudeau government and a follow-up meeting regarding their demands was declined.

"We found the Canadian government's complicity, failure to hold Israel to account has resulted in tens of thousands of dead Palestinian women and children," he said, adding that more than 18,000 children have been killed by Israel.

Thomson identified the ongoing Gaza crisis as "genocide" and called on Canadian media to "stop censoring this word" and not be "shy" from using it.

"Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. It's time you start saying that," he said.

Denouncing the Canadian government's "inaction" regarding the Gaza genocide, he said: "We want the politicians of this country to do their job and end this genocide. But instead, Justin Trudeau and (Foreign Minister) Melanie Joly chose to listen to the Israel lobby groups."

"These groups have opposed a cease-fire, denied Israel's war crimes, denied Israel's genocide, and disrespected the international court’s rulings," he said, describing it as "foreign interference."

Calling on Trudeau and Joly to "take their responsibility seriously" to end the genocide in Gaza, he said: "Justin Trudeau and Melanie Joly, your actions up to this point have supported Israel's genocide. It's time for you to change course. It's time for you to act."

Dr. Yipeng Ge, a primary care physician and public health practitioner, said a grassroots group of Canadian medical workers called EyeWitnessGaza was formed "to share eyewitness testimony in hopes this would help end the genocide."

"We wrote to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and Minister of Foreign Affairs Melanie Jolie as a group of 19 health care workers who have served in Gaza this past year," said Ge, who was in Gaza in February 2024.

"It has been nearly four months since we wrote our letter, which still has not received any reply whatsoever," he said, calling it "beyond shameful."

He stressed that it "is ongoing complicity in genocide by this Canadian government. This is ongoing support and active involvement in genocide by this Canadian government."

In early August, a group of 19 Canadian physicians issued an open letter to the Canadian government, urging immediate action in response to the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.

The letter was addressed to senior Canadian politicians including Trudeau and Joly and urged compliance with international humanitarian law and rulings of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Gaza.