August 12, 2026
The Right Honourable Mark Carney
Prime Minister of Canada
Dear Prime Minister Carney,
On September 26, 2025, I wrote to you regarding the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza, created by what a UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry concluded is a genocide being committed by Israel. As nurses, we are horrified by what we have witnessed unfold in Gaza and by our government’s failure to compel Israel to abide by international law through diplomatic and economic measures.
Despite the declaration of a ceasefire agreement on October 10, 2025, Israel has refused to abide by the terms of the agreement, having killed at least 1,259 people and injuring 4,146. While aid was supposed to be restored to the people of Gaza as part of the agreement, Israel has allowed only a small fraction of the total number of aid trucks agreed to into the territory, blocking essential and nutritious food items necessary for a balanced diet.
Our colleagues in Medicins Sans Frontières (MSF) note that despite this so-called ceasefire, “people are still being killed and confined while aid is denied. It [the ceasefire] doesn’t dismantle the mechanisms of violence; it normalizes the continued disregard for Palestinian lives.” On July 17, our MSF colleagues’ apartment buildings were struck by Israel without warning, trapping families inside. The same day, our MSF colleagues treated victims of an Israeli strike at a funeral in Gaza, which killed eight people, including the son of an MSF staff member.
MSF concludes: “For Palestinians, a ceasefire would mean people have the conditions to grieve, begin rebuilding their lives and recover from the violence they have endured. That has not happened in Gaza.” Palestinians in Gaza continue to be subjected to arbitrary and sudden displacement orders, and most live in overcrowded shelters and tents without access to reliable water, sanitation and sufficient hygiene products. Diseases continue to spread rampantly under these conditions, with rat infestations worsening matters. Children – especially infants – are disproportionately affected.
The health care system has long been in shambles in Gaza as a result of Israel’s genocide, and the CFNU continues to hold Palestinian nurse colleagues and other health care workers in our thoughts. At least 94% of hospitals in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged, with most hospitals either out of service or operating at a very limited capacity.
We join with the International Council of Nurses, which recently stated: “This year marks a decade since UN Security Council Resolution 2286 recommitted to protect health care in conflict, yet that anniversary arrives amid tragic evidence that International Humanitarian Law (IHL) is being violated on a devastating and escalating scale.”
Palestinian health care workers have been targeted and killed in large numbers by Israel, with over 1,700 killed since October 2023. Our colleague Dr. Hassan Abu Safiya is one of many Palestinian health care workers held in Israeli captivity under appalling conditions without charge or trial. He is now facing an immediate threat to his life, and we demand his release and the release of other Palestinian health care workers held without charge or trial.
Your government has failed to implement a full two-way arms embargo on Israel, or to apply other diplomatic and economic pressure on the Israeli state to comply with international law since the letter the CFNU sent you on September 26, 2025.
Parliament will resume in a few short weeks. While we applaud Canada’s recent announcement to commit an additional $30 million in humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in the West Bank and in Gaza, this is insufficient toward addressing the driver of this humanitarian crisis. Israel’s impunity is enabling its continuing genocide in Gaza and its intensifying attacks on – and forcible displacements of – Palestinians in the West Bank.
Canada’s nurses urge you to take concrete steps toward justice and peace, and in line with Canada’s legal obligations under the Genocide Convention to use all means that are reasonably available to stop Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Furthermore, we call on Canada to work to uphold the Geneva Conventions and UN Security Council Resolution 2286, that protect medical personnel from attacks, regardless of where they take place in the world.
It should be reiterated that there is no place for Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian racism and antisemitism in Canada, and the federal government must also work towards combating hate at home.
Yours sincerely,
Linda Silas, CFNU President