By Canadian Press

Canadian doctors who served in Gaza call for arms embargo, sanctions against Israel

May 28, 2025 | 10:33 AM

OTTAWA — Canadian medical professionals who treated wounded Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are urging Ottawa to stop all military trade with Israel.

The doctors say Canada’s current restrictions on arms exports to Israel aren’t good enough and they allege that Canadian firms are still making military components being used in Gaza.

NDP MP Heather McPherson, who pushed for the current restrictions that were introduced in early 2024, says Prime Minister Mark Carney has not significantly changed the government’s approach to Israel.

Carney did join his French and British counterparts in threatening “targeted sanctions” against Israel last week.

Israel has insisted for months that its military operations in Gaza are meant to stop the threat posed by Hamas, but it has faced a wave of international condemnation over the high civilian death count and its restrictions on aid, including food and medical supplies.

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Orthopedic surgeon Deirdre Nunan says she saw many patients with ghastly injuries during her five visits to Gaza — including injuries consistent with drone strikes that were incurred during a ceasefire.

“As a surgeon, I cannot treat a genocide. As doctors, we cannot stop a famine. So we demand that the Canadian government take meaningful action,” the Saskatchewan doctor said during a news conference on Wednesday on Parliament Hill.

Global Affairs Canada has been asked for a comment.

The Bloc Québécois on Wednesday repeated its call for sanctions on Israeli officials, saying it’s the only measure that would get Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to respect international law.

The Canadian Muslim Public Affairs Council is also calling on Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada to fix the flaws in a program meant to resettle up to 5,000 people fleeing Gaza with family ties to Canada.

The group says that just 41 people have managed to leave the Gaza Strip through the program Ottawa launched in January 2024.

It says that Palestinians who managed to escape Gaza on their own are languishing in places like Cairo.

In January, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said 645 people had arrived in Canada through this program, including those who found their own way out of the territory. The department has been asked for more recent data.

— With files from Émilie Bergeron

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 28, 2025.

Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press