This Saturday, November 16, hundreds of people will gather outside of 15 factories and facilities across the country to expose Canada’s involvement in the production and maintenance of the F-35 fighter jets that are devastating Gaza and Lebanon, and to demand that Canada impose an immediate, two-way arms embargo on Israel. Each targeted company produces components of Lockheed Martin’s flagship war plane, which Israel is using to drop 2000lb bombs on residential neighborhoods, schools, and refugee camps. Protests will take place at factories producing key F-35 components from Asco in Delta BC, which manufactures wing bulkheads, the “largest single piece” of the F-35, to Ottawa-based Gastops, which is the sole manufacturer of the F-35’s engine sensors.
F-35s, Lockheed Martin’s flagship fighter jet and the most advanced warplane used by the Israeli Air Force, are a key tool of destruction and mass death in Gaza and Lebanon. Every single F-35 is full of millions of dollars of technology made by Canadian companies and subsidiaries, from machined parts, fuselage sections, bulkheads, and electro-hydraulic actuation system components, to power and thermal management system controllers. Saturday’s National Day of Action exposes the companies involved in producing and maintaining F-35 components, which are shipped to Israel through a US loophole that allows the majority of Canada’s arms exports to Israel to pass— largely unregulated, untracked, and without requiring a permit— through the US.
Neighbours will be rallying outside each of the sites with banners and signs condemning the company and the government for complicity in Israel’s genocide. Some actions will include speakers, performances, flyering, and marches.
HALIFAX: 1:00pm, at BAE Systems – 35 Micmac Blvd., Dartmouth, NS. Info here.
LUNENBURG: 1:00pm, 71 Hall St, Lunenburg. Rally at Stelia’s factory that has been producing parts for F-35s for almost a decade.Info here.
MONCTON: 1pm. Rally at APEX factory producing structural components for the F-35.
MONTREAL: 12pm. 1111 Boul. Saint Charles O, Longueuil. Rally at the global headquarters of major F-35 supplier Heroux-Devtek. Info here.
OTTAWA: 2pm, 1011 Polytek Road. Rally at Gastops, the only place in the world that creates engine sensors for Lockheed Martin’s F-35 bomber jets. Info here.
TORONTO: 2pm, 17 Prince Andrew Pl. Rally at L3Harris. Info here.
VAUGHAN: 10am, 8065 Huntington Road. Rally at Ben Machine Products factory. Info here.
MISSISSAUGA: 12pm, 3333 Unity Drive. Rally at Honeywell Aerospace. Info here.; 2pm, Celebration Square, 300 City Centre Drive. Rally and march highlighting local F-35 suppliers. Info here.
MIDLAND: 12pm. Meet at Regent Park located at 421 College St, Midland, ON L4R 2Y4. We’ll rally together at Raytheon Elcan. Info here.
HAMILTON: 10am. Meet at Clappison’s Corners (intersection of Highway 5 and Clappison Ave, Waterdown). Rally at L3Harris. Info here.
CAMBRIDGE: 1pm. 24 Cherry Blossom Road, Cambridge. Rally at PCC Aerostructures Centra’s Cambridge factory that produces F-35 parts on site. Info here.
WINNIPEG: 12pm rally at CBC (541 Portage Ave), after which a contingent will break off to do a postering action near the Magellan factory that manufactures tail fins for the F-35.
CALGARY: 1pm. 919 72 ave NE, Calgary. Rally at Raytheon. Park and pre-protest meetup at the IHOP/Walmart parking lot in Deerfoot City. Info here.
VANCOUVER: Car rally and arms embargo tour visiting multiple sites. 12:30pm Vancouver meet-up (Safeway parking lot at Commercial and Broadway).1:30pm Delta meetup at ASCO weapons factory (8510 River Road).
VICTORIA: 9am prayer walk leaving Blue Bridge on Wharf St. leading to 11am rally at Lockheed Martin’s facility, 1250 Lockley Road. Info here.
The Day of Action was announced by the ongoing #ArmsEmbargoNow campaign, urging the Canadian government to fulfill its legal and moral obligations to do everything in its power to protect Palestinians in Gaza from the serious risk of genocide and from grave violations of human rights and humanitarian law perpetrated by Israel in its ongoing assault on and siege of Gaza, including putting an immediate end to the trade of arms and military technology with Israel. Since launching in May, the Arms Embargo Now statement has been endorsed by more than 400 associations, labour unions, faith institutions, human rights and environmental organizations, and community groups across Canada. Over 40 MPs from the Liberal, NDP and Green Party have signed on to the demand, acknowledging the catastrophe caused by Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza and calling on the Canadian government to impose a full and immediate arms embargo on Israel.
Despite Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly’s statement in September that “we will not have any form of arms or parts of arms be sent to Gaza, period,” Canadian weapons and military components continue to flow to Israel for use in Gaza both by direct export, via approximately 200 active export permits to Israel that have not been suspended, as well as indirectly via the US as with these F-35 parts.
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) is a steering committee member of Arms Embargo Now. Map of protests and additional information here.
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