On May 15, 2026, the Canadian Press reported:
Almost 200 former senior Canadian diplomats are calling on Prime Minister Mark Carney to impose “robust” sanctions on Israel over deteriorating conditions in the Palestinian territories and Lebanon. In a letter sent to media outlets, the former diplomats asked the federal government to review Canada’s trade agreement with Israel and issue a notice that a strategic partnership agreement will be suspended if those conditions don’t improve.
Here is the letter along with the list of signatories:
14 May 2026
The Right Honourable Mark Carney
Prime Minister of Canada
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON, K1P 5K9
Dear Prime Minister,
We are writing you today with a strong sense of urgency about the need for immediate action, in concert with our European partners, to halt the Israeli government’s stated intention to annex the West Bank; and the need to bring an end to its daily attacks against innocent civilians in Gaza and Lebanon.
On 29 July 2025, 173 former Canadian Heads of Mission called on you to support a ceasefire in Gaza and to seek your recognition of the State of Palestine as a step towards achieving a permanent peace settlement. More than seven months later, despite a declared ceasefire, the Israeli government continues to impede humanitarian aid to Gaza and to destroy civilian infrastructure including hospitals and water facilities while killing and injuring hundreds of Palestinians, many of whom are women and children.
In announcing Canada’s recognition of the State of Palestine on 21 September 2025 you explained that this decision was based on your assessment that the conditions for a two-state solution were being systematically destroyed. The situation has deteriorated further with Israel’s decision to accelerate its support for settlement expansion. On 1 June 2026 the Israeli government will begin issuing tenders for the construction of settlements in the E1 corridor, that Finance Minister Smotrich has explicitly stated is intended to prevent Palestinian statehood by eliminating the possibility of a contiguous Palestinian state. At the same time, extremist settlers, often with the tacit support and at times active participation of Israeli police and military, are violently displacing large numbers of Palestinians from their homes and lands, killing and injuring with impunity.
Similar tactics are being employed in Lebanon, where the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights estimates that over a million Lebanese have been displaced and more than 2,500 killed as a result of Israeli military operations. While Canada recognizes Israel’s legitimate security concerns regarding Hezbollah, the razing of entire towns and the high civilian death toll is a serious violation of international law. Israeli Defence Minister Katz’s stated intention to occupy parts of southern Lebanon also threatens Lebanese sovereignty.
It is evident that without robust international sanctions the Israeli government will persist in disregarding international law and human rights and will press forward with its plans to expand settlements. If we are to preserve the viability of a permanent peace settlement via a two-state solution, Canada must act now, with other international parties, by taking the following measures:
Inform the Israeli government of Canada’s intention to undertake an immediate review of the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement (CIFTA), including the application of rules of origin to exclude coverage of products from the illegal settlements;
Notify Israel of Canada’s intention to terminate the Canada-Israel Strategic Partnership MOU within six months, should the government continue to support the expansion of settlements in the West Bank;
Expand economic and travel sanctions to include any Israeli cabinet member, member of the Knesset, government official, settler, or organization that promotes violence against Palestinians or the seizure of their land;
Take legal action against Canadian companies that bid on or participate in construction projects in the settlements;
Announce Canada’s unequivocal support for, and implementation of, decisions and actions taken by the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice regarding allegations of war crimes and genocidal acts in the region;
Strengthen bilateral relations with the State of Palestine including increased support to the Palestinian Authority and other civil institutions through training and technical assistance with a particular focus in the areas of governance, finance, the judiciary and security;
Appoint a Special Envoy to coordinate with international partners in addressing the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza and to advance support for a negotiated two-state solution with a requirement to report semi-annually to Parliament on the situation;
Accelerate efforts by the Canada Revenue Agency to revoke the charitable status of all entities supporting illegal settlements or facilitating recruitment or funding for the Israel Defence Forces;
Collaborate with international partners to support non-governmental organizations providing protective accompaniment and legal advocacy to Palestinians facing settler violence in the West Bank; and
Advocate with partners to lift Israel’s restrictions on Non-Governmental Organizations and journalists in Gaza to ensure effective aid delivery and independent reporting.
As former diplomats, many of whom have served in the Middle East, we recognize that the pursuit of peace between Israel and Palestine has been undermined by the actions of extremists on both sides. The events of 7 October 2023 are a stark and tragic example within a broader history of violence and human rights violations. We share your view that the only durable path for lasting peace between Israel and Palestine is a viable two-state solution. Our failure to act now, to support that objective, will lead to many more years of conflict, suffering and death.
Respectfully,
The following 190 signatories are former Canadian Ambassadors, High Commissioners, Permanent Representatives, Consuls General, Deputy Heads of Mission and/or Chargés d’affaires who were accredited to the missions listed below (names listed alphabetically):
Mario Bot – New Zealand, Tonga, Fiji, Kiribati, Samoa, Tuvalu
Yves Boulanger – Mali, Ethiopia, Djibouti, African Union
Anne-Marie Bourcier – Finland, Portugal
Alan Bowker – Guyana, Suriname, Croatia, Kosovo
Marc-André Brault – Egypt, South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mauritius, Namibia
Denis Briand – Guinea, Sierra Leone, Burkina-Faso
Kerry Buck – North Atlantic Council
Brian Buckley – Minneapolis
Alexandra Bugailiskis, CM – Syria, Cyprus, Cuba, Poland, Italy, Albania, Malta, San Marino, World Food Programme, IFAD, FAO
Ian Burchett – Hong Kong, Macau
Perry Calderwood – Venezuela, Senegal, Cabo Verde, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, ECOWAS, Sao Tome And Principe, Pakistan, Cuba
Phil Calvert – Laos, Thailand, Cambodia
Joseph Caron – China, North Korea, Mongolia, Japan, Bhutan, India, Nepal
Anne Charles – Bolivia, Peru, Zimbabwe, Angola, Botswana, Mozambique
Hilary Childs-Adams – Germany
Caroline Chrétien – Nigeria, Fiji, Kiribati, New Zealand, Tonga, Samoa, Tuvalu
Keith Christie – Cuba, Mexico
William L. Clarke – Brazil, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia
Nicholas Coghlan – South Sudan
Terence Colfer – Kuwait, Qatar, Iran
Robert Collette – Philippines, Liechtenstein, Switzerland
David B. Collins – Bulgaria, Moldova, Romania, Pakistan, Malaysia, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, UN Nairobi, Burundi, Eritrea, Rwanda, South Sudan
Kenneth Murray Cook – Greece, Haiti, Guatemala, Belize
William Crosbie – Afghanistan
Heather Cruden – Bangladesh, Pakistan
Allan Culham – El Salvador, Guatemala, Venezuela, OAS
Glenn Davidson – Syria, Afghanistan
Adriaan De Hoog – Berlin
Ferry de Kerckhove – Pakistan, Indonesia, Timor-Leste, Egypt
Robert Déry – Minneapolis
Jean-Yves Dionne – Rio de Janeiro
David Drake – Egypt
Roxanne Dubé – Zimbabwe, Angola, Botswana, Miami
André Dubois – Qatar, Algeria
Louis Dumas – Egypt
Jean-Marc Duval – Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkiye, Turkmenistan, Colombia, São Paulo
Lucie Geneviève Edwards – Comoros, Somalia, UN Nairobi, Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, South Africa, Lesotho, Mauritius, Namibia, Eswatini, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Ghana
Mark Entwistle – Cuba
Nicholas Etheridge – Bangladesh, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania
Anthony Tudor Eyton – Brazil, Bermuda
Marc Faguy – Ghana, Benin, Liberia, Togo, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Sao Tome and Principe
Ian C. Ferguson – Lebanon, Nigeria
Lise Filiatrault – Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Cabo Verde
Patricia Fortier – Dominican Republic, Peru, Bolivia
Réjean Frenette – Burundi, Rwanda, Congo (DRC), Congo (Brazzaville), Nigeria, Switzerland, Benin, Liechtenstein
Marie Gervais-Vidricaire – Austria, International Organizations Vienna, Germany
Paul Gibbard – Venezuela, Iraq, Holy See
Barbara Gibson – OSCE
Pierre Giguère – Haiti, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad
Raphael Girard – North Macedonia, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova
Laurette Glasgow – Belgium, Luxembourg, Council of Europe, Monaco
Stanley E. Gooch – Costa Rica, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama, Honduras, India, Nepal, Mexico
Roland Goulet – Gabon, Uruguay, Congo (DRC), Congo (Brazzaville)
John Graham – Suriname, Guyana, Venezuela, Dominican Republic
Chris Greenshields – Ramallah, Israel
Susan Gregson – Shanghai
Marius Grinius – Vietnam, South Korea, North Korea, UN Geneva, Conference on Disarmament
Louis Guay – Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe
Robert Hage – Hungary, Slovenia
Sam Hanson – Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sudan
Ewan Nigel Hare – Burundi, Congo (Brazzaville), Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Nigeria
Kathryn Hewlett-Jobes – Belize, Turks and Caicos, Cayman Islands, Bahamas, Jamaica
Robin Higham – Morocco, FAO
John Holmes – Jordan, Iraq, Timor-Leste, Indonesia, ASEAN, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkiye, Turkmenistan, Philippines
Ross Hornby – European Union
Margaret Huber – Czech Republic, Slovakia, Pakistan, Jordan, Iraq
David Hutchings – Sudan, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Rod Irwin – Trinidad and Tobago, Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Armenia, Russia, Uzbekistan
Bruce Jutzi – Czech Republic, Slovakia
Jeremy Kinsman – Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Italy, Malta, San Marino, UK, European Union
Richard Kohler – Brazil
Gwyneth Kutz – El Salvador, Argentina, Paraguay, Peru, Bolivia
Patricia Langan-Torell – Panama
Christian Lapointe – Ecuador
Suzanne Laporte – Benin, Burkina-Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Brazil
Louise Larocque – Kosovo, Croatia
Cécile Latour – Vietnam
Gilbert Laurin – United Nations New York, UNESCO
Claude Laverdure – Haiti, Burundi, Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Congo (Brazzaville), Belgium, Luxembourg, France
Gaetan Lavertu – Colombia, Ecuador, Germany, Mexico, Deputy Minister
Anne Leahy – Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic, Poland, Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Great Lakes Region, Holy See
Louise Leger – Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras
Gabriel-Marie Frédéric Lessard – Senegal, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Sudan, Vietnam
Allan Lever – Saudi Arabia, Yemen
Michèle Lévesque – Guinea-Bissau, Cabo Verde, Gambia, Mauritania, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Niger, Benin, Liberia, Morocco, African Union, Djibouti, Ethiopia
Daniel Livermore – Guatemala, El Salvador
Peter Lloyd – Trinidad and Tobago, Seattle
Julie Loranger – Spain, Cuba
Marc Lortie – Chile, Paraguay, Spain, Andorra, France, Monaco
Victor Lotto – Venezuela, Dominican Republic
Ken Macartney – Sweden
Melvyn MacDonald – Oman, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen, Malaysia
Michael Mace – Chile, Paraguay, Georgia, Turkiye, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan
Kathleen Mackay – Taipei, Ramallah
Elizabeth Rice Madan – Portugal
Normand Mailhot – Cambodia
Richard Mann – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kuwait, Qatar
Ginette Martin – Congo (DRC), Congo (Brazzaville)
Timothy Martin – Argentina, Paraguay, Colombia, Kandahar, Ramallah
Barry Mawhinney – Czechoslovakia, Ireland, South Korea
Andrew McAlister – Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Tanzania, Seychelles, Comoros, Madagascar
Stuart McDowall – United Arab Emirates
Peter McGovern – Italy, Malta, San Marino, FAO, WFP, IFAD, Albania
Graeme McIntyre – Ramallah
Ian McLean – Milan, France
Donald McMaster – Niger, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia
Rob McRae – North Atlantic Council
Paul Meyer – United Nations Geneva, Conference on Disarmament
Stephen Millar – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan
Michael Molloy – Jordan
John Morrison – Montenegro, Serbia, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania
Scott Mullin – Somalia, Iran
Lilly Nicholls – Panama, Bangladesh
Olivier Nicoloff – Belgium, Luxembourg
John Noble – Greece, Switzerland, Liechtenstein
Robert Noble – Congo (Brazzaville), Sabon, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe, Detroit
Sabine Nölke – Netherlands, OPCW
Adrian Norfolk – Qatar, Chad, Eritrea, Sudan
Brian Northgrave – Uruguay
Brian Oak – Ecuador, Atlanta
Pamela O’Donnell – Ecuador, Tanzania, Zambia, Comoros, Seychelles
Robert Orr – Comoros, Seychelles, Tanzania, Zambia
Louise Ouimet – Burkina-Faso, Mali
Henry G. Pardy – Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, El Salvador
Michel Perrault – Algeria, South Korea, Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic
Arthur Perron – Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, South Africa, Lesotho, Mauritius, Namibia, Eswatini, South Korea
David Plunkett – European Union
Louis Poisson – Gabon, Sao Tome and Principe, Congo (Brazzaville), Equatorial Guinea
Donica Pottie – Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Jordan
Douglas Scott Proudfoot – Ramallah, South Sudan
Barbara Richardson – Bangladesh, Angola, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Czech Republic
Guillermo Rishchynski – Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, United Nations New York
Gilles Rivard – Haiti, United Nations New York
Colin Robertson – Los Angeles
Andrew Robinson – Jordan, Ukraine
Dominique Rossetti – Sudan, Chad, Eritrea
Guy Saint-Jacques – UNFCCC, China
Virginie Saint-Louis – Mali
Jean-Guy Joseph Bernard Saint-Martin – Burundi, Congo, Rwanda, Congo (Brazzaville), Côte d’Ivoire, Niger, Burkina-Faso, Mali, Morocco
Haig Sarafian – Lebanon, Libya
Jules Savaria – Burkina-Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad
John Schram – Sierra Leone, Ghana, Togo, Sudan, Liberia, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Eritrea, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Angola, Botswana
Sandelle Scrimshaw – Ghana, Benin, Liberia, Togo, various Caribbean islands, South Africa, Mauritius, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, France
Chris Shapardanov – Finland
Gerald Skinner – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Iceland
Margaret Skok – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan
Scott Slessor – Afghanistan, Chandigarh
John Sloan – Armenia, Russian Federation, Uzbekistan
Donald W. Smith – Croatia, Holy See
Nancy Smyth – Ireland
Judith St George – Malaysia, Ho Chi Minh
Joseph Stanford – Israel, Cyprus
Mario Ste-Marie – Taipei
Hugh Stephens – Taipei
Allan Stewart – Venezuela, Atlanta
Jeanette Stovel – Brunei, Finland
Peter Sutherland – Saudi Arabia, Yemen, India, Nepal, Philippines
Carmen Sylvain – Morocco, Mauritania, Colombia
Richard Têtu – Iceland
Lillian Thomsen – Saint Petersburg
Christopher Thomson – United Arab Emirates
Douglas Valentine – Colombia, Yemen, Saudi Arabia
Gordon Venner – Iran
Caterina Ventura – Brunei
Louis Verret – Mali, Niger
David Viveash – Libya, Ramallah
Alexandra Volkoff – Sweden
Otch Von Finckenstein – Ecuador
James Wall – Angola, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Somalia, Kenya, UN Nairobi, Burundi, Rwanda, Eritrea, Uganda, Netherlands, OPCW
Roman Waschuk – North Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Ukraine
Michael Welsh – Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and The Grenadines, Montserrat, Anguilla, British Virgin Islands
Christopher Westdal – Bangladesh, Myanmar, South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, UN Geneva, Conference on Disarmament, Ukraine, Russia, Armenia, Uzbekistan, Ireland
Timothy Williams – Boston, Tunisia