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Searching for a Voice in Politics: Youth are Citizens Now, Not in the Future

by Lillian Currie for The 44 North, Guest Writer


Youth activists at a protest holding yellow signs with red letters.
Youth activists at a protest holding yellow signs with red letters.
"If political institutions want greater youth participation, they must stop treating young people as future citizens and start treating them as citizens now." 

Young people are constantly criticized for being “too disconnected” from politics. Headlines often describe Generation Z as apathetic, distracted, or uninterested in civic engagement. Older generations frequently argue that young people spend more time scrolling through social media than paying attention to elections, policy, or democratic participation. Yet, this narrative ignores a much more important question: Why do so many young people feel disconnected from politics in the first place?


The issue is not that youth don’t care. In fact, young people are among the most vocal advocates for climate action, racial justice, affordability, education reform, mental health awareness, and human rights. Across the world, youth-led protests and online movements have demonstrated extraordinary passion and concern for social issues. What many young people struggle with isn’t not caring about politics, but believing politics genuinely cares about them in return. 


Increasingly, young people feel alienated from political systems that seem distant, performative, and unresponsive to their realities.


This growing divide between youth and politics has been shaped by several interconnected factors: Broken political promises, polarization, inaccessible political language, the overwhelming negativity of political discourse, and the influence of social media. Together, these forces have created a generation that often feels powerless rather than empowered. However, despite these challenges, youth disengagement isn’t inevitable. Young people consistently show that when they feel represented, informed, and valued, they’re willing to participate. Authentic leadership, civic education, grassroots activism, and meaningful representation can help rebuild trust between youth and political systems.


One of the largest misconceptions about young people is that they’re entirely uninterested in politics. In reality, many statistics show the opposite. According to Statistics Canada, 67% of Canadians aged 15 to 30 reported searching for information on a political issue online, while nearly half had signed an online petition related to social or political causes. Additionally, 37% reported boycotting or choosing products for ethical reasons. These numbers reveal that youth are not disconnected from issues affecting society. Instead, they’re engaging with politics in ways that often fall outside traditional systems like voting or party membership.


Young people have repeatedly been at the forefront of major social movements. The global climate movement, led in large part by youth activists, has pressured governments and corporations to take environmental concerns more seriously. Movements advocating for racial justice, Indigenous rights, LGBTQ+ equality, and mental health awareness have also been heavily driven by young organizers. According to a 2021 study from the Pew Research Centre, younger generations were significantly more likely than older adults to attend rallies, volunteer, donate, or contact officials regarding climate change. These actions demonstrate not apathy, but deep concern for the future.


However, while many youth care passionately about issues, they often feel ignored by political institutions themselves. One major reason for this disconnect is performative politics. Politicians frequently speak about supporting young people during campaigns, promising action on affordability, education, housing, or climate change. Yet many youth feel those promises rarely result in meaningful change. Rising tuition costs, increasingly unaffordable housing, and economic instability continue to impact younger generations. As a result, politics can begin to feel less like a system designed to represent people and more like a cycle of empty slogans repeated every election season.


This frustration is intensified by the fact that many young people feel their concerns are treated as secondary compared to the interests of older voters. Older generations historically vote at higher rates, making them a more reliable political demographic. Statistics Canada found that voter turnout among Canadians aged 18 to 30 was consistently lower than turnout among older adults, especially in municipal elections. Because political parties prioritize groups most likely to vote, young people may feel politically invisible. This creates a damaging cycle: Youth feel ignored, which discourages participation, and lower participation then leads politicians to focus even less on youth concerns.


Another major factor contributing to youth alienation is the increasingly polarised and hostile nature of political discourse. Politics today is often framed as constant conflict rather than collaborative problem-solving. On television and social media, political discussions frequently appear aggressive, divisive, and emotionally exhausting. Instead of encouraging participation, this environment can push young people away.


For many teenagers and young adults, politics is introduced not through meaningful civic education, but through online outrage. Social media platforms expose users to endless cycles of scandals, arguments, misinformation, and anger. Every day, young people encounter headlines predicting environmental collapse, threats to democracy, economic crisis, or attacks on human rights. While awareness is important, constant exposure to negativity can create emotional burnout. Politics begins to feel hopeless rather than empowering.


Growing up in the digital age has dramatically shaped how young people experience politics. Platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and X allow political information to spread rapidly, but they also reward emotional intensity and conflict. Algorithms often prioritize content that provokes anger, fear, or outrage because those emotions generate engagement. As a result, many youth are exposed to politics primarily through emotionally charged clips, arguments, or misinformation instead of thoughtful discussion or education.


This online environment can make politics feel performative rather than constructive. Politicians increasingly rely on viral moments and social media branding to connect with younger audiences. While some digital outreach can make politics more accessible, young people are often highly aware when attempts at relatability feel forced or insincere. Memes, trends, or simplified slogans cannot replace meaningful action. Young people want authenticity, not marketing strategies disguised as activism.


At the same time, schools often fail to provide strong civic education that explains how political systems actually function. Many students graduate with a limited understanding of how laws are passed, how local governments operate, or how ordinary citizens can influence change. Without this knowledge, politics can feel inaccessible and confusing. Complex political language, legal terminology, and institutional processes may seem intentionally designed to exclude ordinary people.


This educational gap leaves many young people feeling powerless. They are told voting matters, yet they’re rarely taught how broader civic engagement works beyond elections. Consequently, some youth conclude that individual participation cannot realistically create change. Feelings of powerlessness are especially common among marginalized youth who may already feel excluded from institutions due to race, class, gender identity, or economic barriers.


Personal lived experiences also shape how youth understand political and social systems. Throughout middle school, I often overheard predominantly white preteens casually calling their Black friends racist names such as “monkey” as a joke. At the time, I never had the courage to say anything, but those experiences stayed with me. They revealed how normalized prejudice and ignorance can become when people are not educated about the harm of their words. More importantly, it demonstrated why conversations about racial justice and political responsibility matter. Those preteens eventually enter high school, workplaces, and broader society, carrying those attitudes with them unless they are challenged. Silence around these issues only allows harmful behaviour to continue.


Experiences like these help explain why many young people care deeply about social justice issues while simultaneously feeling disconnected from formal politics. They see problems affecting their communities every day, yet political systems often appear slow, reactive, or unwilling to address them meaningfully. This disconnect creates frustration because youth are constantly told they are “the future,” while their present concerns are frequently dismissed.


Despite this alienation, there are many signs that young people are not giving up on democracy altogether. In fact, youth participation often increases when young people believe their voices genuinely matter. According to Elections Canada, voter turnout among Canadians aged 18 to 24 rose significantly in recent federal elections compared to earlier decades, showing that young people are more likely to participate when political issues feel urgent and personally relevant. Although youth turnout remains lower than that of older generations, the data suggest that engagement is possible when young people feel represented and believe their voices can create meaningful change.


Young people are also more likely to participate when leaders speak with them instead of talking down to them. Authentic representation matters deeply. Youth want leaders who understand the realities of student debt, housing insecurity, rising costs of living, discrimination, and online culture because they have experienced those challenges themselves. Younger candidates and grassroots organizers often generate excitement because they appear more relatable and connected to everyday concerns.


Community involvement and grassroots activism are especially powerful tools for rebuilding political engagement. Many youth feel more motivated to participate in local initiatives where they can directly see the impact of their actions. Volunteering, organizing community events, participating in protests, or advocating for local issues can make politics feel tangible rather than abstract. Research highlighted by organizations like Simon Fraser University’s Centre for Dialogue suggests that young people are often highly engaged civically, even if they don’t always participate through traditional political channels.


Improving civic education is another essential solution. Schools should teach not only how governments function, but also how students can participate in shaping their communities long before they’re old enough to vote. In Ontario, students take a “Civics and Careers” course in Grade 10, but civic engagement should be woven throughout a student's education rather than confined to a single class. Young people should learn how to contact elected officials, advocate for policy changes, evaluate sources critically, organize community initiatives, and contribute to local decision-making. These experiences help students develop a sense of belonging and show them that their voices matter before they reach voting age. As a teenager myself, I’ve seen and felt how empowering it can be when young people are given opportunities to contribute to conversations that affect their schools and communities. Civic education should encourage participation and confidence, rather than simply require students to memorize facts about political structures, history, and figures.


Additionally, political spaces themselves must become more accessible. Political discussions shouldn’t rely so heavily on complicated jargon or exclusionary language that alienates ordinary citizens. Young people should feel invited into conversations about policy rather than be made to feel uninformed for not already understanding every aspect of government. Democracy functions best when participation is encouraged, not gatekept.


Most importantly, young people need proof that participation can create real change. Trust cannot be rebuilt through slogans alone. Governments and political leaders must demonstrate accountability by following through on promises, listening to youth concerns, and creating opportunities for genuine participation. When young people see policies directly improving affordability, education, climate action, or mental health resources, political engagement begins to feel worthwhile.


Ultimately, the idea that young people are simply “too disconnected” from politics ignores the deeper reality of youth alienation. Young people are not apathetic because they’re lazy, uninformed, or incapable of caring. They are navigating political systems that often feel distant, performative, inaccessible, and overwhelmingly negative. They care deeply about the future, but many are still searching for evidence that their voices truly matter.


Rather than blaming youth for disengagement, society should ask why so many young people feel unheard in systems supposedly designed to represent them. If political institutions want greater youth participation, they must stop treating young people as future citizens and start treating them as citizens now. Through authentic leadership, stronger civic education, community engagement, and meaningful representation, politics can once again become something young people feel part of rather than excluded from. Only then can the emotional and social divide between youth and politics begin to close.


Bibliography & Further Reading


Lillian Currie is a creative and compassionate high-school student with a strong interest in helping others and making a positive impact in her community. She is passionate about pathways involving children and youth, including social work and pediatric healthcare, and enjoys studying topics such as criminal law, history, and sociology.


Outside of school, Lillian is highly involved in her community. She is an active Youth Steering Committee Member for the Women in Leadership Foundation and also serves on the youth council for Harmony Movement. In addition, she works closely with the Glocal Foundation of Canada, contributing to the writing and research of academic papers. Through all three volunteer opportunities, she has accumulated nearly 200 volunteer hours.


Beyond academics, Lillian is passionate about dance. She has been dancing recreationally for three years and competitively for two, already achieving notable success in her dance journey. She is known for being kind, hardworking, and dedicated to supporting the people around her while continuing to grow both personally and academically.


Police Presence Has Increased on the TTC. But How Can We Truly Measure the Feeling of Safety?

by Wardah Malik for The 44 North, Contributing Writer - Politics


Police officers at the Union Station PATH entrance
Police officers at the Union Station PATH entrance

"While the feeling of safety is difficult to pinpoint, what is known is that many transit riders do not associate police with safety. " 

Half of Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) riders don’t feel safe using the system. At least, that’s the impression you might get scrolling through Councillor Brad Bradford’s (Beaches—East York) social media. He has made transit safety a major pillar of his mayoral campaign, arguing for increased regulation. His latest motion to place police officers at every station was approved in March. Despite overall crime rates declining, Councillor Bradford maintains that “safety isn’t defined by statistics in a spreadsheet. It’s about how people feel.” If that’s the case, how do we know whether increased police presence actually leads to greater safety? In other words, can the feeling of safety truly be measured?


On July 7, 2023, a graphic video of a man being stabbed inside a Toronto subway car circulated widely on social media. In the shaky footage, a passenger can be heard yelling, "Help him. He’s stabbing him up. He’s killing him.” The fear in the speaker's voice resonated with viewers, many of whom cite the incident, along with other viral videos depicting violent episodes on the TTC, as evidence in favour of increased security measures on the transit system. These videos and images, while useful for holding individuals accountable, also have the effect of creating an environment of heightened unease and judgment. Online forums, in particular, have contributed to this dynamic. “Oh, another one?” one user writes in response to a March stabbing. “More poverty, more problems,” says another. Although reductive, these comments reflect and reinforce broader conversations taking place beyond digital spaces. Incidents of violent crime are being treated as a marker of the TTC and are increasingly being used to advocate for stricter policing of public spaces. In an article for the National Post, Councillor Bradford writes, “It’s the indiscriminate nature of these incidents that stays with you, the fact that in a crowded vehicle or on a narrow platform, there is nowhere to go when trouble begins.” 


Toronto police presence on the TTC subway system, January 2023. Via CITYNEWS/Sean Toussaint
Toronto police presence on the TTC subway system, January 2023. Via CITYNEWS/Sean Toussaint

For Councillor Bradford, the high-profile incidents of recent years are not isolated events. Instead, they reveal a trend and serve as a warning for TTC riders: On your next commute, you could be the victim of an attack. While the TTC insists that this isn’t the case and hundreds of millions of trips go on every year “without incident,” its own data complicates that narrative. In a 2024 annual report, the TTC noted that Special Constables made 215 apprehensions under the Mental Health Act, an increase of 9% from the previous year. The report described these apprehensions as responses to “calls received for persons who were in distress or posed a threat to themselves or others.” A 2025 investigation by CBC and the Investigative Journalism Foundation adds to this, finding that the number of reported assaults on Toronto-area transit increased by 160 percent between 2016 and 2024. 



The rise of violence on the TTC is difficult to attribute to a single cause. However, many experts argue that these incidents signal an urgent need for better support services for people struggling with homelessness, mental illness, and addiction. Often described as a microcosm of Toronto, the TTC reflects broader dynamics across the city and reproduces the tensions that exist beyond the platform. This means that high rental costs, overcrowded shelters and warming centers, and a growing housing affordability crisis will inevitably translate to more people using subways and streetcars as “makeshift bedrooms.” At the same time, the closure of supervised consumption sites has contributed to more visible drug use and discarded equipment across the TTC system. 

And although the TTC and the City of Toronto have taken action to minimize these impacts through the introduction of several programs (including community safety ambassadors and security officers), many argue that it’s simply not enough support. Frontline transit workers, specifically, have called for more overdose response teams, outreach and crisis workers, and mental health professionals to ease their burden and reduce the expectation that they act as social workers to counsel vulnerable riders and de-escalate emergencies. However, rather than responding more robustly to this call, Councillor Bradford and others who view policing as a means of creating a safer Toronto have opted to increase police presence. 


“We agree that the burden of responding to emergencies shouldn’t be placed on transit workers alone. However, we also know that police often escalate tensions on transit by, for example, harassing riders and using unnecessary force. Expanding police presence on the TTC contributes to a culture of fear within communities that are already overpoliced, such as racialized riders, Indigenous riders, immigrants, unhoused people, and people experiencing mental health crises,” Nico Nothwehr from the transit advocacy organization TTCRiders tells The 44 North. 


A case study by the Ontario Human Rights Commission reaffirmed these concerns, showing that Black people in Toronto were 3.25 times more likely to experience a Toronto Police Service check than White people. The study’s community consultations also called for greater investment in social programs rather than policing, arguing that reallocating funding toward community supports would create safer, healthier, and more equitable communities that are less reliant on police services. On the TTC, this could mean expanding community-based, health-focused responses that de-escalate emergencies and strengthen non-police mental health crisis services.


Past initiatives have already demonstrated the effectiveness of these approaches. For example, the Toronto Community Crisis Service (TCCS), a free, confidential, 24/7 mobile mental health crisis response service that is available citywide to people 16 years of age and older, received more than 29,000 calls for service in 2024 and dispatched mobile crisis teams over 23,000 times across the city. Notably, 78 percent of calls transferred to TCCS by 911 were successfully resolved without any police involvement, demonstrating that non-police crisis response models can effectively support public safety while reducing unnecessary police interactions. 



Still, even as advocates and community organizations continue to call for expanded, permanent support services and raise concerns about overpolicing, the TTC has steadily increased police presence across its properties and vehicles since 2021, arguably in an effort to restore pre-pandemic ridership levels. However, this strategy hasn't necessarily made riders safer. That reality makes it difficult to believe that Councillor Bradford’s latest policy will do anything other than target the city’s most vulnerable residents to create an immeasurable feeling of safety for a select few. In fact, over time, this policy will likely do more harm than good. It risks normalizing an expanded police presence in public spaces and making people increasingly dependent on policing as the primary model of safety. 


While the feeling of safety is difficult to pinpoint, what is known is that many transit riders do not associate police with safety. Policy-makers mustn’t ignore this and, instead, use it to guide consultations and engagement with riders on what truly brings about community well-being. And although a new TTC safety plan to implement a crisis worker program is a step in the right direction, issues beyond the platform need to be addressed as well. For Nothwehr, “[T]he most effective solutions will be upstream—like increasing the number of dignified and accessible shelter spaces, building more supportive housing units that use a housing first approach, reopening supervised consumption sites, and increasing funding for mental health and addiction supports.”

Wardah Malik is a Toronto-based researcher, editor, and historian. She is the founder of Historyless Magazine, an independent publication covering global affairs and underreported political narratives. Her work spans media, human rights, and community-based research, including projects on press freedom, public health, and gender-based violence. Her research interests include governance, decolonizing language, and the preservation of underrepresented histories. Wardah holds an MPhil in World History from the University of Cambridge.


“The Banality of Evil” and Canada's Clandestine Military Industrial Complex

by Sylphia Basak for The 44 North, Contributing Writer - Politics



Editor's Note:


The following article reflects the views & analysis of the author. As with all opinion and essay submissions, the piece has been edited for clarity and reviewed carefully for factual accuracy, but the interpretations & arguments are the author’s own. The 44 North publishes an array of perspectives & voices to encourage and ensure thoughtful engagement with complex social, political, historical, and cultural issues.


"Those who wish to dismantle Canada’s systemic complicity in the neocolonial world order must first understand the intricacies of how we uphold it. Especially as American fascism continues to socially, politically, and literally encroach on this side of the border."

Ahead of the FIFA World Cup, Toronto officials have unveiled a new $12.5-million police command centre—the ‘centrepiece’ of the city’s security plans for the FIFA World Cup (CBC). Other ornamentations of this new city arrangement ahead of the World Cup include a counter-terrorism unit, stationed with semi-automatic rifles at ‘key locations,’ though they don’t point to any specific ‘threat’ spurring this new wave of enforcement.


Photos of armed guards stationed in Toronto with semi-automatic rifles (CBC). 
Photos of armed guards stationed in Toronto with semi-automatic rifles (CBC). 
ICE via CBC
ICE via CBC

Most controversially, there have been reports and public concern around possible Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers patrolling Toronto during the World Cup, despite an official motion by Mayor Olivia Chow and the Toronto City Council to keep ICE out of the city.  It has been stated that officers will not be armed, however, many local government members and police accountability & immigration justice organizations are (rightfully) sounding the alarm given ICE’s record of enacting violence towards civilians, amid a stark uptick in fatalities and imprisonments. 

 

Many Canadians remain unaware that ICE, through Homeland Security Investigations, lists offices in five Canadian cities—Calgary, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, and Vancouver—operating out of U.S. embassy or consular locations. While ICE says their officers do not carry firearms or conduct arrests in Canada, their presence has raised serious concern among immigration justice advocates and elected officials. The Canadian government has done little to condemn the American administration’s use of ICE, amid documented allegations of abuse, including pregnancies of women and children in ICE detention centres ,  wrongful detentions, and excessive force and deaths in and out of custody, including the well-publicized deaths of  Renee Good, Alex Pretti and Keith Porter Jr. According to several reports, Canadian banks and pension funds, including the Canada Pension Plan (CPP), the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, and Desjardins  have poured up to $35 billion into ICE contractors (COOP Media NB). Canadian collusion with ICE trickles down to even their armored trucks, an entire fleet of which have been manufactured by Canadian security transport company, Roshel, based in Brampton, Ontario, who have also invested in manufacturing armoured trucks for the Israeli government.  



Hannah Arendt’s concept of “The Banality of Evil,” was written about Adolf Eichmann, who participated in the January 1942 Wannsee Conference where the implementation of the genocidal Final Solution to the Jewish Question was planned. Eichmann was also responsible for the logistics involved in the mass deportation of millions of Jews to Nazi ghettos and extermination camps across German-occupied Europe. Despite the horrific, deep-seated systemic violence of Eichmann’s crimes, in observing him, Arendt describes a type of villainy not necessarily born entirely out of malice or sadism, but out of apathy toward others and a hyper-individualist need for power and status. A key point made by Arendt was that this was not a particularly exceptional type of evil; one would only have to convince themselves that they’re doing right by themselves and perhaps their fellow countrymen, to excuse atrocities committed under their leadership. 


Adolf Eichmann standing trial (Wikipedia)
Adolf Eichmann standing trial (Wikipedia)

Hannah Arendt was, throughout her life, a Zionist to varying degrees. And I understand the irony in using a framework created by her to understand the psyche of those complicit in Israel’s genocide of Gaza—especially since the trial she uses as a case study takes place on occupied Palestinian territory. In her later years, including post WWII, she became critical of evolving Zionism, arguing against collaboration with imperial powers, and that the implementation of a Jewish-only state would cause unnecessary conflict in the West Asian region. Though I disagree deeply with much of her rhetoric in this regard,  I feel hers is an appropriate and timely lens through which to look at the Canadian weapons industry and even at Arendt herself. As a reader, however. take her words (and mine) with a grain of salt. 


But, there’s  an argument to be had that this school of thought—which plagued Eichmann and his subordinates—captures something within the core ethos of Canadian politics, and perhaps explains our government’s willingness to continually partake in an increasingly fascist system alongside its more abrasive front-facing figures. 


Despite Canada’s global reputation for placidity, in addition to this country’s lengthy history of mass violence toward our Indigenous people and ethnic minorities who immigrated here, Canada has also made extensive contributions to the military industrial complex of Western nations.  


“Canada is certainly almost always ranked in the top 15 by volume of sales but that [ranking] is actually problematic for a number of reasons. One reason is that a number of groups that measure these things only count complete weapons systems, for example the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, or SIPRI. A lot of what Canada produces is in the form of components or subsystems. Also, there tends to be an undervaluing of Canada’s involvement in the trade because nobody has any idea of the volume of our trade with the United States.” 



Despite the recent disintegration of free-trade between Canada and the U.S., this government appears to still engage in a frequent flow of imports and exports when it comes to military weapons. Canada’s main weapons export to the U.S. and subsequently any U.S. proxies, being parts for the F-35 fighter jet. However, several factories covertly include weapons parts in their inventory. And despite the Canadian government's official statements, these weapons parts still find their way to the assembly line of Israeli weapons, where they’re used to carry out genocide, as concluded by Amnesty International and testified by South Africa before the ICJ, as well as reflected in the ICJ's provisional measures.



Image from Arms Embargo Now
Image from Arms Embargo Now

The  Arms Embargo Now coalition has published reports and evidence suggesting the government of Canada continue to have its hands in weapons manufacturing. Specifically, in facilitating the genocidal occupation of Gaza and the rest of Palestine, despite the Canadian government having claimed to ban all exports to Israel. Global Affairs Canada disputes several of those claims, calling them misleading, but the report has further intensified scrutiny of Canada's military-export regime and its loopholes.


Mélanie Joly, Minister of Industry of Canada via CBC. 
Mélanie Joly, Minister of Industry of Canada via CBC. 

In 2024, the Canadian Government announced it would no longer be selling weapons directly to Israel, Anita Anand, Foreign Affairs Minister is quoted as saying;


“Canada has drawn, and will continue to draw, a hard line: since January 2024, we have refused any new permits for controlled goods that could be used in Gaza. Not one has been approved…We went further by freezing all existing permits in 2024 that could have allowed military components to be used in Gaza, and those permits remain suspended today. The law is clear: no company may export controlled goods without a valid permit. We will not hesitate to ensure that those who violate this law face legal consequences that include fines, seizures and criminal prosecution. In other words, we will not allow Canadian-made weapons to fuel this conflict in any way.” After examining the report released on July 29, 2025, Global Affairs Canada officials have determined that a number of claims in the report are misleading and significantly misrepresent the facts…“Canada continues to deny any export permits for materials that could be used in Gaza…


We take any allegations of circumventing of Canada’s export regime very seriously and, if true, these would be accompanied by severe legal sanctions.”


Anita Anand, Minister of Foreign Affairs (CBC)
Anita Anand, Minister of Foreign Affairs (CBC)

However, the Arms Embargo report reveals several contradictions in statements made by members of the Canadian government, who have persistently denied their continued involvement in arms manufacturing.


According the report’s findings;

  • 421,070 bullets were exported to Israel since the Gaza assault began, including one shipment in April 2025 alone containing 175,000 bullets;

  • Three shipments of cartridges from a General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems (GD-OTS) facility in Repentigny, Quebec, including one that occurred nine days after the then-Foreign Affairs Minister publicly pledged that Canada would block munitions exports from the same Quebec company to the Israeli military; 

  • 391 shipments including bullets, military equipment, weapons parts, aircraft components, and communication devices exported from Canada to Israel between October 2023 and June 2025, according to data from the Israeli Tax Authority (ITA)—representing only a portion of total exports; 

  • Shipments from seven Canadian cities destined primarily for Israel’s largest weapons company, Elbit Systems and its subsidiaries, along with other Israeli defence firms including Elta Systems, WaldyTech, Snunit Aviation and NIRON Systems;

  • Around 100 international flights transporting Canadian components to Israel—64 of them commercial passenger flights where military cargo was loaded beneath civilian travelers on routes through Frankfurt, Paris, New York, Abu Dhabi, and New Delhi.


GTA shipments to different Elbit Systems’ subdivisions and Israeli manufacturers from April 2024 to July 2025. From Arms Embargo Now. 
GTA shipments to different Elbit Systems’ subdivisions and Israeli manufacturers from April 2024 to July 2025. From Arms Embargo Now. 

The data from the Israeli Tax Authority also shows that 175,000 “machine gun/handgun bullets for military use” were exported to Israel from Canada in April 2025. Since those bullets arrived, IDF soldiers and armed American mercenaries have shot and killed over a thousand Palestinians at food distribution centres.

Montreal shipments to different Elbit Systems’ subdivisions and Israeli manufacturers from April 2024 to July 2025. From Arms Embargo Now.
Montreal shipments to different Elbit Systems’ subdivisions and Israeli manufacturers from April 2024 to July 2025. From Arms Embargo Now.

According to Arms Embargo Canada, Global Affairs Canada (GAC) claimed to have suspended issuing any new export permits as of January 8, 2024. That August, GAC announced they had suspended around 30 existing permits, as well as having announced the discontinuation of new permits. However, this meant that shipments of arms to Israel were still allowed to proceed under the hundreds of previously approved permits. This allows for private companies the plausible  deniability to create new contracts by selling crucial weapons parts. This loophole allowed Canadian companies to continue to profit from Israel’s genocide while the federal government misled Canadians into believing they were no longer arming Israel.


Officials then shifted their initial statement, claiming only “non-lethal” military goods are being approved for export to Israel. This extended to drone components, surveillance systems, and communications equipment. This loophole is the first of its kind, and contradicts the Arms Trade Treaty and the Export and Import Permit Act, which specifically require that officials do not approve arms transfers if they pose a substantial risk of being used in serious violations of international humanitarian law or other such abuses.  According to an inquiry conducted by The Maple, GAC was also unclear on whether the suspension of weapons’ licenses applied to Israel’s other military campaigns in Lebanon, West Bank,  Yemen, and Iran. When reached out to, they declined to comment. 



Not only are the companies that manufacture these weapons parts existing on the outskirts of major Canadian cities, many other major Canadian banks and other conglomerates have until recently acted as major investors for Israel’s largest weapons manufacturing partner, Elbit.  



Demonstrated in the above charts, manufacturing and logistics companies such as Honeywell (Mississauga),  Dishon (Vaughan), General Dynamics (Quebec) and Lockheed Martin, who have an HQ in Ottawa, ship key components of machinery directly to Elbit and other weapons companies based in Israel to form weapons of genocide  with impunity. 


New and developing  military weapons are annually advertised and demonstrated at CANSEC, “Canada’s leading defense, security and emerging technology events”. This conference, which is partnered with the Canadian Department of National Defense, also has private sponsors which make up substantial portions of the Canadian economy, including Bell,  BAE systems, Raytheon and the University of Toronto. 


Comprehensive list of 2026 CANSEC sponsors.


These weapons, which are advertised as “battle-tested” in Palestine to both national and international clients, are then deployed at will to all other proxies of imperialism, from Gaza to Cuba to Sudan, to the Congo and back here on Turtle Island. Protestors of the convention have been subject to police brutality and persecution, despite it being a nonviolent action, with 12 arrested last year, including a citizen journalist.


Protestors at the 2025 CANSEC conference. From The Fulcrum and Immigrant Workers’ Centre. 
Protestors at the 2025 CANSEC conference. From The Fulcrum and Immigrant Workers’ Centre. 

Protestors are also said to be attending CANSEC this year which will be running from May 27-28. 


Studies from Tracking (In)Justice and Carleton University further suggest that incidents of police brutality in Canada are on the rise.



CEO and founder of Roshel, Roman Shimonov
CEO and founder of Roshel, Roman Shimonov

The evidence suggests that contrary to Canada’s desired public image, this country more so acts as a transient stop—an intersection that links the imperial arms industry. And as intersected as these companies are, so too are the people who run them. Roshel, for example, the company that manufactures ICE trucks, is owned by Roman Shimonov, a Ukrainian immigrant who moved to Israel and worked in the “defense” sector. 


As uncomfortable a truth it may be, the philosophy of banal evil used by many western politicians, including those in Canada, bears a haunting resemblance to the type of banal evil used in historic fascist organizations and in men like Adolf Eichmann. Though perhaps not enacted to its absolute extreme, nonetheless the type of “banal” evil described by Arendt is still complicit in the behaviours  and actions of those who do gleefully express more extreme, genocidal intent. Too many even so-called liberals and progressives seem far too willing to toe the line, making peace with politicians who openly embrace fascist rhetoric and collude with genocidaires—so long as it benefits their career short-term. Our politicians have failed on even a base level to fully condemn the ongoing genocide Israel continues to perpetrate against Gaza, let alone impose full sanctions. Even as Israel expanded its genocidal campaign into the West Bank and Lebanon, even when Canadian citizens (foreign aid workers) were shot at and killed, and as more reports are coming out of Flotilla activists being tortured and assaulted by Israeli soldiers. And this is all despite the fact that support in Canada for the ongoing genocide is at an all time low and continues to decline.


Flotilla activists (CNN)
Flotilla activists (CNN)

Our politicians not only fail to condemn, but actively aid the US in its ceaseless determination to erode the quality of life (and earth itself) for citizens in the Global South, including their own countries in exchange for lobbyists acquiring land and resources. These reports and findings at their core expose the facade of polite Canadian Liberalism. ‘Canada’ remains one of colonialism’s primary beneficiaries through loopholes and plausible deniability. And it’s precisely this that allows the Canadian government to continue to impose colonial era policy onto the Indigenous population along with other minorities. 


Those who wish to dismantle Canada’s systemic complicity in the neocolonial world order, must first understand the intricacies of how we uphold it. Especially as American fascism continues to socially, politically, and literally encroach on this side of the border. How will our communities mobilize to keep each other and visitors safe should ICE test their capacity on Canadian soil? What can we as locals do to educate others on the weapons industry in Canada and advocate for its dismantling?


When Adolf Eichmann stood trial (ironically, in Jerusalem), Hannah Arendt remarked that his demeanour, the manner with which he spoke of his involvement in the holocaust, and his architecture of some the worst war crimes seen in modern history, was that of a man describing a mundane weather event. He was not a man of the shadows, twirling a mustache and rubbing his hand with glee in delight as he sent masses of innocent people to certain death. He was a man who went to work and did his job and did it well. He only required a certain amount of cognitive dissonance to be able to justify carrying out the crimes he did. His case, and the terrifyingly similar rhetoric of our own politicians, holds up a mirror to Western citizens. It forces us to ask an ugly and uncomfortable question, one which we too often avoid—lest we face the reality of how we might align with some of the greatest most terrible war criminals of living memory; 


What do I willfully ignore on a daily basis, to be able to enjoy my day, unencumbered by the realities of what we are complicit in? 


What comfort am I willing to sacrifice, so others may live with basic rights and freedoms? 


Sylphia Basak is a journalist/writer and activist who uses a variety of mediums to convey the story she wants to tell. Her work prioritizes a decolonial lens, and seeks to counteract and analyze Western media and culture as a way of highlighting the primary contradictions of the current political climate.


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