Labour Council Condemns Unlawful Detention & Assault of Chris Smalls

Lift the Illegal Blockade! End the genocide in Gaza!

Friday August 1st, 2025

The Toronto & York Region Labour Council condemns the Israeli military’s illegal detention and assault of Chris Smalls, a human rights activist and trade unionist who played a leading role in organizing the first Amazon warehouse union, and other members of the Freedom Flotilla. Smalls and other Freedom Flotilla activists were attempting to deliver desperately needed aid to Palestinians under-siege in the Gaza Strip - Palestinians who are now suffering extreme starvation and a man-made famine, according to international human rights groups and the UN.

For decades, Israel has been illegally restricting the movement of goods and aid into the Gaza Strip, and that blockade has been intensified time and again. Now that blockade has restricted the free and legal flow of goods and aid to a dead stop. Through the blockade, Israel has created a genocidal man-made famine in Gaza. We condemn the illegal blockade and the famine it has caused, and we condemn the attacks on human rights defenders who are seeking to break it.

The Toronto & York Region Labour Council has been proud to host Smalls several times in our city to speak with our members about the shared struggles of working people around the world. We stand with Smalls and the 31 other Freedom Flotilla activists, and we share their ongoing fight for justice, peace, and freedom for working people everywhere, and we demand accountability for the mistreatment they faced.

Further, we support the call of the Ontario Federation of Labour for:

• An immediate and permanent arms embargo on Israel
• Formal recognition of the State of Palestine by the Canadian government
• Sanctions against the Israeli government for violations of international law
• An end to Canada’s diplomatic and economic support for Israeli apartheid
• Immediate action by the United Nations to formally recognize the genocide in Gaza and to hold Israeli officials accountable through the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ), to which Canada is a signatory, under the Genocide Convention

In solidarity,

Toronto & York Region Labour Council