🍉 Van Gran 4 Pal Community Newsletter (September 29th, sorry we're late!)
Introduction
Neighbours and friends,
Our newsletter is a little behind schedule. Below we have our usual introduction, actions and events. But first, if you are reading this on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, today we are joining you in honouring Residential School Survivors and the children who never returned home. This day belongs to survivors and their families. Our charity spotlight is the Indian Residential School Survivors Society, who fund programs and services to help Indian Residential School Survivors, their families, and loved ones. As a team we often speak about how struggles for justice, liberation and truth are connected. We carry that with us in this work, alongside our commitment to standing with Indigenous communities. Here are the events happening in Vancouver for September 30th for Orange Shirt Day.
Some days feel like weeks, some weeks feel like months and some months feel like years. As we approach October, it's been almost three years since Palestine showed up on everyone's news feeds and we started to witness a live-streamed genocide. We cannot begin to imagine how three years has felt on the ground.
New satellite images reveal the scale of destruction wrought by Israel. "Since Israel’s war on Gaza began on October 7, 2023, more than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 175,000 have been injured. The true toll is likely higher because many people are still missing beneath the rubble. Since the October “ceasefire” last year, more than 1,400 people have been killed and almost 5,000 injured."
It is unconscionable. We cannot understand how so many people with influence have remained silent. We are grateful to those who risk their livelihoods and use their platforms to speak up, even though "there is no thanks for a duty". It is our duty to stand up for humanity. We are proud to be in community with all of you readers.
The media in October 2023 wanted to paint only one side of a story, to rally the world behind a genocidal ethno-state and justify a western colonial agenda. But we have access to information. We have not lost the skill of critical thinking. We grieved, we questioned, we called out media bias. Those of us who didn't know the historical context explored it. We learned, we talked, we rallied. We stood up against what the media called the 'defence' of Israel and we haven't stood down as the days turned into weeks, months and years.
We've found each other in the streets, online, at events. We've connected at teach-ins and art builds. We've tried to educate and bring in more folks along the way.
Some days it feels futile, like nothing you could do matters, but that isn't true. We stand on the shoulders of every liberation movement that came before us. Change happens when our tenacity and devotion to what is true and right outlast the oppressors' commitment to their agendas. As we've risen together and stayed the course, public sentiment has shifted. There have been slow wins, and every one of them was fought for. We will not rest until Palestine is free.
Actions you can take
Tell Canada: Anti-Zionism is not antisemitism
We know how important it is that anti-Zionism not be confused for antisemitism. When Israel is committing a genocide live-streamed in front of the whole world every day, and when real antisemitism is rising as part of right-wing extremism, it is crucial that we be able to clearly differentiate these two forces, as we fight for a better world for all peoples.
Candidates Updates on Vote Palestine Pledge
Check out every candidate for Mayor and City Council in Vancouver, and whether they have committed to the Vote Palestine platform. Candidates who have not answered are listed too. The list runs from committed to declined, and within each level the earliest commitments come first; order it by ballot order or by name instead at any time. 64 candidates recorded. 16 have committed to the full platform and 5 to part of it. 2 are determining the level of their commitment. Put voting day, October 17th, in your calendar and make a plan to get out and vote!
Upcoming Events
‘NEVER AGAIN, FOR ANYONE’ | October 3
🗓️ Saturday October 3rd, 2026
⏰ 3-5pm (doors open 2:30. Event will include a reading, a moderated discussion with Stacy & Elly, and book sales + signing)
📍 Enabling Arts - Unit 104, 343 Railway Street, Vancouver BC
Join us for a special book reading, signing, and conversation with Stacy Friedman and Elly Stern, the local author/illustrator team behind Never Again, for Anyone, the first Jewish children’s book in solidarity with Palestinian liberation.
Kids Market for Palestine | October 4
Date & Location
📅 October 4, 2026
⏰ 10:00 am - 4:00 pm
📍 Enter from Alley• 1943 East Hastings, Vancouver, BC V5L 1T5 CA
About
Join us for a fundraiser sale of kids clothes, books, toys, bikes, strollers, halloween costumes, winter gear, baked goods, and more!
The Kids Market is a sustainable, affordable way to stock up on essentials for your children while supporting kids in Gaza through the Shaghaf Project, a grassroots education initiative, and Parents for Palestine's Teach Palestine campaign.
1100 Days of Genocide | October 10
📆: October 10 2026
📍: 700 Hamilton St, Vancouver
🕑: 2PM
About
This October, we mark the third year of a relentless genocide on our people in Gaza. 1100 days of horrors by the Zionist entity: bombing, kidnapping, murdering and unspeakable acts of sexual depravity.
Meanwhile in the West Bank, Zionist settler terrorism has reached new heights: blatant land theft and annexation, destruction of Palestinian homes and property, mass kidnappings and unprecedented violence against Palestinians on their own land.
On October 10th, we join together to demand an end to the occupation. An end to the genocide in Gaza. Total liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea. From every street, we will join the global call and demand an end to Zionist terror once and for all.
CARE OVER CAPITAL POP-UP | October 10
Date & Location
11 AM–6 PM
📍 Grandview Church · East Vancouver
1803 E 1st Ave, just east of Commercial Drive
About
What happens when we make more room for connection, creativity, learning, grief, play and community, alongside commerce? Not just a place to buy and sell. A place to sit together. Make things. Share resources. Learn from each other. Have difficult conversations. Grieve together. Let our kids play. Meet people who share our values. And build relationships that extend beyond a single afternoon. This gathering is being shaped by local makers, artists, community organizations and people who are bringing their own ideas, skills, resources, and care to the table.
Community Spotlights
IRSSS provides vital support for those impacted by the lasting trauma of the Indian Residential School system. These institutions, created to forcibly assimilate Indigenous children, caused profound harm through systemic abuse and cultural erasure—effects that continue across generations.
IRSSS is dedicated to providing compassionate, culturally grounded support for Indian Residential School Survivors, their families, and communities. Their services include crisis support, counselling, advocacy, and cultural healing to help individuals navigate their healing journey.
Book Club
The Palestinian Wedding: A Bilingual Reader of Resistance Poetry
Poetry has long been Palestine’s most vital art form – a space where memory is safeguarded and resistance given voice. Spanning a century of upheaval and endurance, The Palestinian Wedding brings together twenty-one major poets in a powerful bilingual anthology.From the charged lyricism of Tawfiq Zayyad to the expansive imagery of Walid al-Halis; from the romantic cadences of Salma al-Jayyusi to the profound rootedness of Mahmoud Darwish, these poems chart the emotional and political landscape of modern Palestine. Together, they reveal a tradition in which love of land, grief, defiance and hope are inseparable.
Edited and introduced by the eminent scholar A.M. Elmessiri, the collection is arranged around six central themes – revolution, war, elegy, belonging, resistance and steadfastness – offering readers both an essential literary archive and a vital lens on Palestinian cultural history. Released in Canada on October 16th.