🍉 VanGran4Pal Community Newsletter (October 31, 2025)
Neighbours and friends,
We come to you this week from a new platform and hope you will bear with us through any hiccups. You can now check out all our previous newsletter editions here.
These past few weeks we have been processing the ongoing tragedies in Gaza and watching the news with disbelief. There have been moments of warmth, seeing children celebrate and hearing of them sleeping peacefully; yet more moments of despair as news of violations, war crimes and horrors unearthed do not stop. This powerful piece by Ahmad Ibsais is worth your time, and reminds us that we must demand accountability even if a lasting ceasefire emerges, and that 'the only just future is complete liberation'.
We want to highlight the words of our community member V, speaking powerfully about her friend in Gaza, and the heartbreak of slowing momentum in the wake of the “ceasefire”.
"Hello everyone,
I write with such pain as I see talk of Gaza lessening, and talk to my friend Fahed every day. He recently went to the North to try to recover winter clothes, and was instead detained and beaten by the gangs affiliated with Abu Al-Shabab, cooperating with the occupation.
He's now stuck in North Gaza, separated from his family in the South. He speaks of the destruction around him, the spirit gone from people's eyes, and states the envy those who are left forgotten feel for those martyred. He's exhausted, he is tired, and he is one of many who I know feel this way.
At the end of this newsletter is his GoFundMe. Please donate if you can. Please continue to fight, speak up, and plan actions.
There is no ceasefire, and even if the bombs have stopped, the aftermath of 2 years of genocide has its unspeakable toll.
Thank you”
Please keep the fire lit within you for Gaza, and keep up with the latest actions and updates - read on for more.
In solidarity,
The Van Gran crew
Action Updates
Defend CBC Documentary from Pro-Israel Lobby
A new documentary released by CBC's The Fifth Estate is generating significant blowback. Upset by how CBC lifts the veil on Canadian charities complicity in apartheid, pro-Israel groups like the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) and HonestReporting Canada (HRC) are fiercely the attacking the public broadcaster.
While we acknowledge the flaws in CBC's overall coverage — and work diligently to challenge their cover-up of the genocide — this documentary represents a departure from the norm. It is extremely valuable to express our support for the journalists and producers who worked on this documentary. It is more than likely, based on all we know about the inner-workings of CBC's newsroom, that those who put this together had to navigate around many obstacles. The pressure of pro-Israel lobby groups could discourage CBC leaders from greenlighting work like this in the future. We should make an effort to balance the blowback with support, as we need more journalism like this, not less.
Click here for more information on CJPME's Media Accountability Project. Please open a new email in your email program, address it to basem.boshra [at] cbc.ca, Ioanna.Roumeliotis [at] cbc.ca, and draft and send your email in support of the journalists and producers who worked on The Fifth Estate.
Support Senator Woo's Motion
Canada is complicit in Israel’s genocide in Palestine.
It always has been an active participant in the colonization of Palestine; and since October 2023 it has recommitted itself to supporting the Zionist State. This is not a surprise when considering Canada’s own existence as a settler colonial state that is committing an ongoing genocide against Indigenous Peoples here on Turtle Island. Canada is complicit in a myriad of ways.
Because of this, Senator Yuen Pao Woo put forward a "Motion on the Risk of Canada’s Complicity in the Gaza Genocide." In a letter to Senator Woo, in lead up to his speech regarding the motion on October 7, Just Peace Advocates and ICJP Canada outlined Canada’s “risk of complicity".
Soon enough, the Senate will vote on Senator Woo's motion. Tell Canadian Senators to support the motion.
Upcoming Events
Solidarity Through Detention Walls | Friday, October 31
Date and time
Friday, October 31 at 7 pm.
Location
Surrey Immigration Holding Centre, 13130 76 Ave, Surrey, Coast Salish Territories including the q̓ic̓əy̓ (Katzie), q̓ʷɑ:n̓ƛ̓ən̓ (Kwantlen), and Semiahma (Semiahmoo) peoples.
About
Immigration Detention Centres are designed to enact violence. They are sites of fear, disorientation, isolation, and forced confinement. In 2022, on Christmas Day, a migrant detainee died in the Surrey Detention Center.
While many of us are witnessing the horrific violence of ICE detention in the US, few are aware of Canada's detention system. In the past year, the Canada Border Services Agency locked up 935 people in immigration detention in so-called BC. The detention regime is part of the racist deportation machine, and Carney's government is ramping up these systems with budget increases to CBSA and increasing deportations by 25%.
We need solidarity and resistance to respond to these escalating legislated attacks and growing anti-migrant racism everywhere. Not one more detention, not one more detention! Abolish all detention and jails and borders!
This Halloween, let's confront this scary institution with solidarity. We will be outside the Detention Center with care and treats for loved ones coming during visiting hours, and send musical messages of solidarity for those on the inside.
https://www.weavingourworlds.ca/solidarity-through-detention-walls/
Emergency Rally & March | Saturday, November 1
Date and time
Saturday, November 1, 2:00 pm.
Location
VPL Central Branch, 350 W Georgia St.
About
The bombs never stopped. The cages never opened. Palestinians remain under siege — from Gaza to the prisons of the occupation. Join us this Saturday to demand freedom for all Palestinian hostages and an end to Israel’s violations of the ceasefire.
Parents for Palestine Kids Market | Sunday, November 2
Date and time
Sunday, November 2, from 10 am to 6 pm.
Location
Progress Lab: 1422 William Street.
About
Let's stop spending our money on mega-corporations that pollute our planet, exploit workers, and profit off genocide. Build a circular economy with us while supporting families in Gaza.
Indigenous Love and Rage: Resistance to Settler Colonialism | Monday, November 10
Date and time
Monday November 10 at 6 pm
Location
1803 East 1st Ave. xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh & səlilwətaɬ lands
About
Weaving Our Worlds humbly invites you to an evening of Indigenous knowledge-sharing and Indigenous resistance to settler-colonialism. Indigenous peoples continue to resist many colonial violences — capitalist extraction and land theft, policing and incarceration, the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous relatives, drug poisoning crisis, ongoing apprehension of Indigenous children, and settler racism and domination — while asserting Indigenous knowledge, culture, and life.
Register here: https://www.weavingourworlds.ca/indigenous-love-and-rage/
So You Want to be an Organizer? A Newbie's Guide to Getting Involved! | Sunday, November 16
Date and time
Sunday, November 16. Doors at 12:45 PM / Starts at 1:00 PM.
Location
Russian Hall, 600 Campbell Avenue.
About
Vancouver Granville for Palestine, in collaboration with Al Awda Vancouver, presents “SO YOU WANT TO BE AN ORGANIZER? A NEWBIE’S GUIDE TO GETTING INVOLVED!” Join us for this in-person, half-day workshop on November 16th as we skill-up for Palestine!
If you’re new to organizing and want to get more involved, this crash course in Organizing 101 is for you. Learn from and connect with local organizers and pick up skills that can be put to use right away!
From planning a digital action to mobilizing your “crew” and keeping that crew safe, we’re here to answer all those questions you have about becoming an organizer, but were too afraid to ask.
Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/so-you-want-to-be-an-organizer-a-newbies-guide-to-getting-involved-tickets-1901028319879
Community Spotlight
Help Fahed feed his family!
Fahed and his family are living in a tent on the rubble of their destroyed home.
Having been displaced for many months, this family of more than 20 people returned home. Their home no longer exists.
Fahed has since gone to the North to try and retrieve winter clothes, where he was detained and beaten, and is now stuck, separated from his family.
Fahed’s family, including young children, urgently need food and water. Fahed needs medical treatment.