Canada’s ‘Nakba Bill’ offers blueprint for ‘vision of peace,’ says rights group head

Seventy-seven years since hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forcibly uprooted from their homes with Israel’s establishment, activists and lawmakers in Canada are preparing to open a new legislative challenge against the ongoing occupation.

The sweeping proposal has been dubbed the “Nakba Bill” — a reference to that 1948 expulsion that Palestinians call the “Catastrophe”. If it passes, the legislation could reorient Ottawa’s policy on the Middle East conflict with curbs on trade with Israel and its army recruitment activities in Canada, along with political recognition of Palestinian statehood.

Stephen Brown, CEO of the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), which helped draft the bill, hopes its effects go beyond Canada’s borders.

“This is to put forward a vision of peace in the world and solving conflicts through diplomacy, not war,” Brown says. He wants the bill, formally named the Act for Canada to Stand for Human Rights and Peace in the Middle East, to serve as “a blueprint for other Western countries that are looking at also reinforcing a rules-based order.”

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Among its key provisions, the bill calls for Canada to officially recognise 15 May as Nakba Day, prohibit Israeli army recruitment on Canadian soil, expand the existing arms embargo on Israel, impose sanctions on Israeli leaders accused of war crimes, and formally define and address anti-Palestinian racism at the federal level.

15 May marked the 77th anniversary of the mass displacement of Palestinians following the creation of Israel in 1948, when over 700,000 Palestinians were forced from their homes.

Brown says the legislation has been a year in the making, shaped through consultations with legal experts, academics, Palestinian Canadians, and community members. “It’s interesting — I would have said maybe a year ago or six months ago, there would have been certain provisions which would have been more difficult,” he says.

It would first need to be sponsored as a private member’s bill and introduced to Canada’s Parliament, something that has not happened yet.

But with growing international condemnation of Israel’s actions in Gaza, Canadian lawmakers are taking notice. “There’s many members of parliament actually, that are really interested in working towards sponsoring this bill in some form, and that’s from multiple parties,” he says. “We’re already in discussions.”

Challenging complicity

Brown says the proposal reflects Canadians’ growing concern over international affairs, especially in light of US foreign policy and Israel’s conduct in Gaza. “Canadians are looking at this in the perspective of, how do we actually stop this from happening, and how do we put forward our own vision of what international relations would look like?”

While the bill’s passage remains uncertain, Brown emphasises its symbolic and policy significance. “It isn’t so much a question of will this bill pass? Will it not pass? It’s what are the recommendations and the provisions going to look like?”

He expects the bill could move forward in the next parliamentary session. “By the time parliamentarians are back in the new session in the fall, we think there’s a good chance of this model legislation being passed in some shape or in some form during that session, if not before.”

READ: 92% of Gaza homes destroyed by Israeli war: UNRWA

Brown points to recent remarks by Canada’s prime minister as a sign of changing attitudes. “Mark Carney himself has said that the principle of territorial integrity, whether it’s for Canada, Ukraine or Gaza, is sacrosanct,” Brown notes.

He also highlights Canadian complicity in Israel’s military operations through the presence of Israeli army recruitment activities. “If there’s a plausible genocide happening, one of our recommendations is to ban IDF [Israeli occupation army] recruitment,” he says.

“The military that would be responsible for carrying out this genocide is the IDF. So, there’s a real concern among lawmakers that we’re creating a situation where Canadians are going to be participating in the genocide,” he adds.

The bill also seeks to impose sanctions on Israeli settlers and leaders, enforce a transparent weapons embargo, and ban imports from illegal settlements.

“If you recognise a two-state solution, and one of the states has already been recognised, why not recognise the other?” Brown asked. “This is something that it’s not just us talking about. These are parliamentarians that are making these recommendations.”

He added that many Canadians — individuals, communities, and businesses — are alarmed about Canada’s arms exports to Israel. “We [Canadians] don’t want to be complicit in things that we ourselves deem to be illegal,” he says.

A moral opportunity

The proposal comes amid what Brown described as a broader public awakening. Citing a 2024 NCCM survey, he said over 70 per cent of Canadians supported a ceasefire in Gaza. “Especially since the Trump administration has been talking about annexation of our country, there’s been a much greater focus on … how this is impacting other people as well.”

Brown believes that rising awareness is fueling political momentum. “World events are doing a really good job of getting Canadians’ attention and getting them educated about what’s going on. There’s more concern and more awareness of this in Canadians, and I think there’s ever been before.”

Framing the bill as a moral opportunity for Canada, he says it gave Canada the chance to “lead on an international question that is of massive concern to billions of people around the world and especially in Western countries.”

“This is an opportunity for Canada to be consequential with our own values, our own values of pluralism, our own values of respect for human rights, our own values of respect for international law, our own values of a rules-based order system where it’s not might that makes right, but right that makes right.”

Asked about public engagement efforts, Brown says the NCCM plans to mobilise support through awareness. “The best remedy for this, from a Canadian perspective, is sunlight and working with different communities around the country.”

He adds: “We’re going to continue to raise our voices as concerned Canadians, as Canadian Muslims with partners around the world, and Palestinian Canadians, to say that we are going to be asking our government to do everything in its power to make sure that aid enters, that food and water is able to be delivered to people who are starving and dying of thirst.”

READ: Half a Million Join “Nakba 77” National Demonstration in London to Demand an End to the Genocide in Gaza