Adam Chambers: Simcoe North Member of Parliament (MP) – Conservative Party
The Centre For Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) is a zionist lobby organization which has sponsored propaganda trips to “Israel” for at least 73 MPs currently in office, amounting to 22% of all sitting MPs (the word Israel has quotation marks around it because these trips are often marked as solely to “Israel” even though they include time in areas recognized as being illegally occupied).
In 2023, Adam took a CIJA trip worth a whopping $19,190 – the fifth highest amount of all 73 MPs!
Read the full article by The Maple here.
In November 2023, Adam also attended a pro-Israel rally in Toronto (as per the Toronto Star):
Adam has also chosen to make deeply misleading and in some cases categorically false statements concerning Canada’s arms trade with Israel. Particularly, he has repeatedly stressed to concerned constituents that the $21 million in Canadian arms exports to Israel is “a very small amount” and “is not related to any weapons or major systems.”
This is FALSE. Let’s break it down:
- Canada approved $28.5M worth of military exports to Israel between October and December 2023. In comparison, Canadian companies exported $21.3M to Israel in military goods in 2022, and $27.8M in 2021. This means that Canada approved more exports of military goods to Israel in just the first three months of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza than in any single year in the last 30 years.
- The vast majority of Canadian military exports to Israel are for component parts, including those found in deadly military equipment. For example, companies like Pratt and Whitney produce the engines for F-35 planes in Canada, they send those engines to the US who assemble the planes that are then sent to Israel for use against Palestinians.
- Further, as a signatory to the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), Canada has a legal responsibility to ensure its arms exports are not used in the commission of serious violations of international law, or serious violence against women and children. There is ample evidence that arms are currently being used by Israel in precisely these ways.
- Source: World Beyond War Canada
Finally, Adam has voted against every motion in Parliament since October 7th that relates to Palestinian human rights. This includes motions for a ceasefire, increased humanitarian aid, and an arms embargo between Canada and Israel.
MP Chambers contact information:
- Email: adam.chambers@parl.gc.ca
- Phone (Midland office): 705-527-7654
- Phone (Orillia office): 705-327-0513
Jill Dunlop: Simcoe North Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) – Progressive Conservative Party
Part 1: Jill’s taxpayer-funded trip to Israel & support for Awz
In January 2023, Jill Dunlop, MPP of Simcoe North and Minister of Colleges and Universities*, enjoyed a $11,507.80 taxpayer-funded trip to Israel.
While her adventure was well-documented on her Instagram Reels, what value it offered to Simcoe North and Ontario taxpayers is less clear.
But what exactly was Jill doing in Israel? Who was she meeting with? Let’s take a look at one of her Instagram posts boasting about her meeting with ‘Awz Ventures’
Upon closer investigation, Awz Ventures is an investment company that specializes in investments in defensive & intelligence technologies thanks to their partnership with the Israeli Ministry of Defense. Israel has a major tech industry that is closely connected to its sophisticated and well-funded military. Many see it as a way to monetize and profit from the occupation of Palestinian territories.
…and Jill met with Awz to “explore ways that the Ontario Colleges and Universities sector can work together to advance their research and IP (Intellectual Property) strategies.”
After Oct. 7th, Yaron Ashkenazi, a founder and managing partner of Awz, wrote an op-ed about how their company would help the country “stop these evil terrorists in their tracks” (referring to Hamas). For years, the company has poured investments—totalling at least $350 million—into high-tech companies that support the Israeli security industry. Companies they invest in produce a range of sophisticated spy tools and other cutting-edge technologies like facial and behavioural recognition software. One of the companies sells an artificial intelligence (AI) program, used in a dozen Israeli municipalities, that deploys surveillance footage to identify people gathering, throwing stones, or wearing hoodies. While Ashkenazi says these technologies “help the righteous side of the world,” critics say they allow investors to profit off of Israel’s repression of Palestinians and its illegal occupation of Palestinian lands.
But wait, there’s more! Guess who is a leading partner at the firm and president of its advisory committee?
Former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Are we surprised?
Under Harper’s leadership, Canada stopped voting in favour of UN resolutions that condemned Israel’s illegal settlements and other practices, and cut off aid to the Palestinian Authority when Palestinians elected Hamas in democratic elections in 2006. In 2013, he described Israel as a “light of freedom and democracy in what is otherwise a region of darkness.”
According to Jill, she visited Israel because it’s a “powerhouse when it comes to innovation”. Along with her visits to tech companies and universities, she had a “lovely chat” with Irwin Cotler and claims to have tasted “authentic Israeli falafel.” Israeli officials noted there should be “concrete steps…to strengthen our tech…collaboration”, further enhancing the Ontario-Israel Memorandum of Understanding MOU launched back in 2005. The complete apartheid tour!
Let’s take a look at Jill’s expense breakdown from her trip:
Total = $11,507.80 in taxpayer dollars.
Was it worth it? No. Occupation and war are not good investment opportunities.
Has there been any update, accountability, or transparency on how the trip was organized, who set it up, and why?
Meanwhile, our post-secondary system, for which she is the Minister of, is falling apart whilst she is virtually absent. Make no mistake, MPP Dunlop, Minister of Colleges & Universities*, wouldn’t go to a debate on post-secondary issues in her riding. But she will go on a taxpayer-funded trip to Israel to pander to the oppressive Israeli security industry and leverage our public institutions for private financial gains of the Israeli security industry and well-connected Conservative politicians.
Who does she really represent?
Two other excellent journalism pieces on this subject (both of which we sourced some of the info from for this post, thank you!)
Part 2: Jill & Attacks on Academic Freedom
When she’s not cutting deals for Israeli military investors, she’s using her Ministerial position to shut down criticism of the Israeli government and their military occupation of Palestine.
On October 17th, Jill Dunlop, MPP and Minister of Colleges and Universities*, publicly condemned University students and faculty in provincial Parliament for their statements in support of Palestine after October 7th.
Jill publicly named and shamed the following groups for their statements in support of Palestine following October 7th:
- York Federation of Students
- York University Graduate Students’ Association
- Glendon College Student Union
- University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union
She then went on to read the names of the students from the executive teams’ of these Students Unions (a total of 17 students), and 3 University professors from various schools. In her words: “The students on the executive who signed the letters are—and I’m going to name the students. I’m sorry if I mispronounce their names, but I think it’s important that their names are in Hansard, because these students put their names on letters in public, supporting Hamas“ (The Hansard transcript is the official record of what was said in the parliament)
Watch at your own risk:
What the Students’ Union statements drew attention to:
- Israel’s 75-year long military occupation over Palestine
- Israel’s forced apartheid, colonization, dispossession, ethnic cleansing, and genocide of Palestine
- Israel’s continuous violations of International Law
- Dehumanization of Palestinian people
- Support of the Palestinian people’s fight for self-determination and liberation.
What Jill Dunlop falsely accused the statements of:
- Hate speech and making hateful statements
- Laughing, supporting, celebrating, and justifying the killings of Israeli civilians
- Inciting violence
- Defending rape, torture, mass murder
- These students being antisemites
Jill claims that she was speaking to the safety of Jewish students, without any consideration that her own comments and naming of individuals might risk student safety in turn.
Her alarming claims are false and an attempt to dox and incite hateful, dangerous harassment targeted at students who advocate in solidarity with Palestine. Jill’s mischaracterizing, slandering, and villainizing of these students puts their lives at risk.
Jill’s actions have been condemned by:
- The Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Association (OCUFA), representing 17,000 faculty, academic librarians, and other academic professionals across Ontario
- Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT), representing over 72,000 academic and professional staff at more than 125 universities and colleges across the country
- The Canadian Federation of Students (CFS), representing over 530,000 students
- University of Toronto Mississauga Students Union (UTMSU)
- Osgoode Hall Faculty Association (OHFA)
- & many others
But what about campus free speech?
Back in 2018, the Ford government (of which Jill is a part of) introduced a campus free speech policy, positioning itself as a defender of open and vigorous debate at colleges and universities. Institutions were required to develop and publish free speech policies by Jan. 1, 2019, in line with the University of Chicago’s 2014 statement, which calls for the “broadest possible latitude” to speak and write.
Minister Jill Dunlop and the Ford government are ignoring their own campus free speech policy. Their government has made it abundantly clear that it was never committed to the principle of free speech.
Besides requesting the withdrawal of the statements by the student groups, Jill also called upon both universities “to investigate and, if necessary, bring non-academic misconduct reviews regarding the actions of the executives of both respective unions for their statements.” In the words of OCUFA: “The government is using their position to threaten to impose restrictions on academic freedom, which is unacceptable. For the Minister to single out one perspective and argue that those with that perspective will be monitored and disciplined by the government is antithetical to the academic mission of our universities.”
Listening to our Minister defaming students whose names she can’t pronounce, on an issue she doesn’t understand, is cringeworthy. Jill claimed that “many of our institutions have failed us, but more importantly, they have failed our students.” It seems that no one has failed us except our elected officials like Jill who, rather than protecting all students, are attacking, vilifying, and literally putting their lives in danger.
Academic freedom is essential in a free and democratic society. We demand better.
MPP Dunlop contact information:
- Email: Jill.Dunlop@pc.ola.org
- Phone (Orillia office): 705-326-3246
*As of August 2024, Jill is no longer the Minister of Colleges and Universities as she was appointed by Premier Ford, as Minister of Education.