Rights advocates welcome Canada’s exclusion from Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’
Mark Carney should not join US plan for Gaza that ‘makes mockery of Palestinian self-determination’, rights groups say.
As world leaders discuss Gaza's reconstruction, Palestinians continue to suffer under Israeli attacks and aid restrictions
Canadian human rights groups have welcomed Donald Trump’s decision to revoke an invitation for Prime Minister Mark Carney to join the United States president’s so-called Board of Peace, saying Canada should not take part in a “colonial scheme”.
The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) said on Friday that “it is a relief that Canada is no longer welcome” on the Trump-led board.
“At a time of mass war crimes and humanitarian disaster in Gaza, Canada should be trying to align with international law and human rights,” the group said on social media.
“The ‘Board of Peace’ makes a mockery of Palestinian self-determination and Canada should have nothing to do with it.”
That was echoed by the advocacy group Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME), which said Carney’s participation would have given the board “undeserved legitimacy”.
“Canadians want to see principled opposition to Trump’s power grab, not mixed messages,” the organisation said on X.
Trump announced late on Thursday that he had withdrawn an invitation to Carney to join what the US president said would be “the most prestigious Board of Leaders ever assembled, at any time”.
Trump did not say why his invitation to Carney to join the Board of Peace was rescinded.
But the move came just days after the Canadian prime minister said during a well-received speech in Davos that a US-led world order faced a moment of “rupture” amid coercion and threats. The Canadian prime minister’s remarks drew the ire of Trump, who warned Carney during his own Davos address that “Canada lives because of the United States”.
I would have rather had Carney reject his invitation, but this works too.
