On a crisp Sunday afternoon in October, around a thousand people are gathered together on the grounds of the BC Legislature for a peaceful rally in support of the Palestinian people and in protest of the current Israeli bombardment and military invasion of Gaza.

As protesters gradually occupy the front of the building and the lawn, the iconic steps that mark the ceremonial entrance soon fill up with tributes to the children killed by airstrikes in Gaza. Tiny shoes, stuffed animals, a small glittery backpack, photos, and bloody hospital scrubs are meant to remind all present of the many victims of the bombings. Palestinian keffiyehs are worn around people’s necks, shoulders, foreheads or heads. Large flags of Palestine are draped on the stairs.

Mohammad: “You can never go out of Gaza”

Mohammad, a 20-year-old Palestinian entrepreneur, is waving the flag of Palestine on the steps of the Parliament Buildings. He has been in Victoria since 2021, first with a 5-year visitor visa, then as a refugee.

“I had threats from everywhere. Then I got accepted to come here and I just left. I came on my own and had a court hearing in Vancouver.” His father also was a refugee from Palestine: “He managed, but it was 34 years ago and he wasn’t living in Gaza. He went to Kuwait in the 1980s and when the war with Iraq started, he had to go to Jordan and he met my mother there, who is also Palestinian.” His mother was able to get out of Gaza at the time: “My grandpa was a friend of the president of Palestine at the time. But normal people cannot [leave Gaza]. [My mother and father] have been accepted [in Jordan], thanks God, and that’s where I was born.”

He says the situation in Gaza has always been extreme: “It was always difficult in Palestine, all of Palestine, not just in Gaza. But Gaza is the most extreme, difficult place. It’s an actual prison and way worse than a prison. For the people who pass away in Gaza, it’s actually better than living there—that’s how bad it is there. Gaza has always gotten bombed. Never a year passes without having a family member passing.” His aunt on his father’s side, Mai, was already living in Victoria, but he still has a lot of family left in Gaza. “Till now, 30 members of my family are now shahid in heaven. We are still counting them. [Those still in Gaza] have no electricity, no Internet, nothing. We don’t know what’s happened to them, but they were all bombed in their apartments, in Gaza City.” His mother is the one in touch with the family in Gaza: “My father and I have no contact with them. Whenever they [could] talk to my mom, who is also still in Jordan, they would inform her. She would then tell us what [was] happening. But  [now] she can’t even contact them.”

Some other young men are in the same situation as Mohammad: “Hisal, a close friend of mine, who arrived to Victoria 4 or 5 years ago, lives in Gordon Head and [his] entire family lives back in Gaza. [He] now gets a call every 20 minutes saying your house or your building was bombed, everyone in them is dead. I was talking to him. He wasn’t OK.” In the end, Mohammad sees no solution other than a ceasefire because of the impossibility of leaving Gaza: “You can never go out of Gaza [and] inside, it’s worse than a prison. Even now, they are not letting anything in—even food, money, humanitarian help, nothing. Everything is closed. There are 2.3 million people there, so by the time you manage to call other countries to get out of there, it’s going to take you 10 years and while waiting, you are already going to be dead in Gaza.”

Yahya: humanizing the suffering of the Palestinian people

Speakers are formulating clear demands: a ceasefire; for the media to humanize the suffering of the Palestinian people; and a humanitarian corridor to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Holding onto a megaphone, Palestinian/Canadian student Yahya Odatallah is hoping to galvanize the public. He is half Jordanian and half Palestinian and arrived in Victoria from Jordan at the age of 3. Now 18 years old, he is in his first year of engineering school at the University of Victoria (UVic). His family back in Jordan all feel worried for the people in Gaza, as he does. “I came here to support the Palestinian people,” declares Yahya. “There is a genocide going on. Thousands have died so far, over a third of them being children. We want to call for a ceasefire. We want to call for the media to humanize the suffering of the Palestinian people. We want humanitarian aid into Gaza.”

President of UVic’s Muslim Student Association (MSA), Yahya describes his background: “My family is from Jaffa, close to what is known now as Tel Aviv. My grandparents on my mother’s side and grandmother on my father’s side got expelled from Jaffa in 1948. They went to Jordan.” He hopes that the protest is heard and that these rallies will continue until their demands concerning the ceasefire and humanitarian aid are met. Meanwhile, he is chanting along with the crowd: “Justin Trudeau you can’t hide, you’re supporting genocide.” He also hopes that there will also be some protests held in UVic.

Chrystal: speaking the unequivocal truth

A student in Gender Studies at UVic since 2020, Chrystal launched a petition on October 15, 2023 on change.org: “Urge University of Victoria to publicly condemn Genocide of Palestinians.”

“I expect to hold Kevin Hall, the president of the university, accountable for his role in erasing the genocide of Palestinian people,” says Chrystal. “The president of UVic, Kevin Hall, released a statement on October 13th addressing the ‘Conflict in the Middle East’ wherein he used active language to reference Hamas’ ‘terrorist attacks’ on Israel, but used passive language to reference the violence unfolding in Gaza.  I expect the president to demonstrate the same regard for Palestinians as he did for Ukrainians when he released a statement condemning the Russian invasion and supporting Ukraine. Ultimately, I expect President Kevin Hall to speak the unequivocal truth—which means acknowledging the atrocities of Israel’s genocide of Palestinians.”

So far, the petition has gathered 2,918 signatures. Back on the steps, several more speakers addressed the crowd, then this part of the rally concluded with many chants and cheers as people started to peacefully move onto the streets for a march led by the young voices of Victoria.

A second rally took place in Victoria on November 5th. As of November 12, 2023, despite numerous rallies across the world, no agreement for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict has been reached.