Trudeau says three Canadians could be among Hamas hostages; Tories say no ceasefire

By Stephanie Taylor, The Canadian Press on October 16, 2023.

OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called on Hamas to immediately release hostages in Gaza, which he says may include at least three missing Canadians, while the Opposition Conservatives warned his Liberal government against calling for a ceasefire.

Trudeau spoke in Parliament for the first time Monday since fighters stormed into Israel from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, killing hundreds of people and taking a reported 199 people hostage.

“Five Canadians were murdered by Hamas terrorists. Three Canadians are reported missing and may be hostages,” he told MPs in the House of Commons.

He continued in French, saying, “Canada asks Hamas to free all the hostages immediately.”

Canada has listed Hamas as a terrorist entity since 2002. In his address to Parliament, Trudeau reiterated how militants with the group are not “freedom fighters” as some supporters and protesters have suggested in demonstrations staged in Canadain the wake of the attacks.

“Terrorism is always indefensible and nothing can justify Hamas’s acts of terror and the killing, maiming and abduction of civilians.”

As family members in Canada and other countries struggle to find their missing relatives, Canadian officials have declined to provide details about any potential hostages, warning that doing so could affect their safety.

Speaking in Parliament, Melissa Lantsman, one of the Conservatives’ deputy leaders, said Canada “could do more and they must do more” when it comes to Canadians possibly taken hostage.

“Demand their release again and again.”

Lantsman, who is Jewish,as well as the Israeli Consulate in Toronto, recently identified the fifth Canadian killed as 21-year-old Netta Epstein. The consulate said Epstein, who died on Oct. 7 as Hamas fighters stormed into Israel, was shot as he and his girlfriend sheltered in a safe room, and he then jumped on a grenade thrown by the attackers to shield his girlfriend, who survived the attack.

The names of the other four Canadians confirmed killed and the three believed missing and possibly taken hostage were read aloud by several members of Parliament on Monday, including during a late night debate on Canada’s response to the war.

Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh spoke of the need to respond to the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Israel has further blockaded the territory and has cut access to electricity, food, water and humanitarian aid. More than a million people have been displaced from their homes as bombs continue to fall and the United Nations has warned that hospitals are about to run out of fuel and supplies.

Together, both sides report more than 4,000 dead since the war broke out Oct. 7 – including many children – which is a figure anticipated to rise further as Israel prepares for an expected ground invasion in Gaza.

Citing the words of the son of a peace activist who has been missing since the Hamas attacks that more violence is not the answer, Singh told Parliament that “surely we must demand the same of the Israeli government” and adding that Canada must work with its allies to “end the bloodshed.”

“We cannot allow for the continuing dehumanization of an entire population,” Singh told MPs, saying Canada should call for a ceasefire.

The NDP leader continued, saying: “When we stop seeing each other as humans, when we stop believing that each life has value, this is when the seeds of genocide take hold.”

Both Conservative and Liberal MPs quickly pushed back against such characterization of Israel’s actions, underlining how, as a nation, it has a right to defend its borders and fight back against Hamas, whose stated goal is its eradication.

Michael Chong, the Tories’ foreign affairs critic in Parliament, cautioned that in the days ahead the solidarity expressed by Canada and other western allies in the hours after the attack by Hamas will be “tested” as the death toll from the war worsens.

“As casualties mount, we should resist the temptation to call for a ceasefire until the Israeli Defense (Forces) achieves its goal of eliminating this existential threat to the state of Israel.”

“It is a justifiable war against a terrorist group,” Chong said.

Both the NDP and Conservatives agreed with calls from the governing Liberals for a humanitarian corridor to be established in Gaza so that not only can civilians flee, but that humanitarian supplies can be brought in.

Earlier in the day, Trudeau said around 1,300 passengers have left Israel aboard flights arranged by the Canadian Armed Forces. Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly confirmed a group of Canadians have also crossed safely from the West Bank into neighbouring Jordan as the violence continues.

The federal government says 21 Canadians, plus 10 people from Australia and New Zealand, took a bus out of the Palestinian territory, which Israel has occupied since 1967 and where it has established numerous Jewish settlements.

Trudeau acknowledged the worsening humanitarian crisis and called for “unimpeded humanitarian access and a humanitarian corridor so that essential aid like food, fuel and water can be delivered to civilians in Gaza.”

“It is imperative that this happen.”

He did not, however, call for a ceasefire as the NDP pressed him to do, and also stopped short of calling for Israel to end its bombardment of the 2.3 million Palestinians living in Gaza.

Canada was still working to get up to 300 citizens and their relatives out of Gaza after a plan to allow foreign nationals to leave the 365-square-kilometre coastal stretch via the border crossing with Egypt fell through on Saturday.

Officials say more than 6,800 Canadians are registered with Global Affairs in Israel, and more than 450 in both the West Bank and Gaza.

David Wallach, a Calgary businessman who moved to Canada from Israel 25 years ago, was in Tel Aviv for a family holiday when the conflict began.

He and his family planned to get on one of the Canadian airlifts, but ended up taking a charter paid for by a donor from Toronto.

He also said evacuations from Israel should have happened sooner.

“When you wait, and the war escalates, it’s tougher to take those people out,” he said.

“If the Canadian government would have had that plan in advance and started evacuating people Sunday and Monday, by now most Canadians would already be out of harm.”

Wallach said it was tough leaving family members behind and he worries about Canadians in the West Bank and Gaza who are still trying to find a way home.

Liberal MP Anthony Housefather,who hails from Montreal and is Jewish, said earlier Monday the Jewish community in Canada is devastated and families are living in fear as police in major cities monitor for antisemitic threats.

He said Israel has a right to respond and to defend its borders.

“At this point you have a western democracy that was attacked by a terrorist group that had the worst killing of Jews in any day since the Holocaust,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2023.

– With files from The Associated Press and Bill Graveland in Calgary, Dylan Robertson in Ottawa and Sidhartha Banerjee in Montreal

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