Guide
We have put together a list of ways in which to remain engaged in whatever way/capacity you can. This is a work-in-progress and we welcome your additions and suggestions through comments.
We base this request for your continued participation through a thoughtful approach that includes the following:
Here are a few things you can reflect on, do and/or support.
We thank you very much for all your support and care.
Sonya Fatah, director, stitched! studio
On behalf of the stitched! team:
Laila Hashem, Christin El-kholy, Mariam Shakaa, Hania Noor, Skye Anderson, Kinza Zafar & Diurnus.
Journalistic Actions
Petitions and Campaigns
Demand that Canada suspends arms transfers to Israel
Doctors of the World Canada has launched a petition urging the Canadian government to suspend arms transfers to Israel. The organization highlights that Canada continues to supply weapons to Israel while suspending humanitarian aid to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). The petition calls for an immediate ceasefire and a halt to the transfer of weapons that could be used to commit violations of international humanitarian law.
Explore the petition and sign here to support it: https://doctorsoftheworld.ca/article/petition-armes-israel-en
Arms embargo campaign: https://armsembargonow.ca/mandate/#online
Stop the DSRB: ‘No war bank in Toronto’ campaign: The federal government and the government of Ontario has launched a bid to make Toronto the home for a NATO-affiliated multi-lateral institution called the Defence, Security, and Resilience Bank (DSRB). Grassroots anti-war group, World Beyond War, says that the DSRB will pull money away from social goods, line the pockets of war profiteers, escalate the militarization of society and further the relationship between arms dealers and investment bank. http://actionnetwork.org/letters/stopdsrb
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) has initiated a number of petitions: Campaigns and advocacy efforts such as urging Canada to support the ICC's arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu, recognize Palestinian statehood, and halt arms sales to Israel. Other initiatives focus on opposing pro-Zionist policies and improving visa access for Palestinians to reunite with family in Canada.
Explore the petitions and sign here to support them:
https://www.cjpme.org/campaigns
BDS: With alarming increases in Israeli use of drones and with drone technology developed by Israeli companies being sold as ‘battle tested’ in Gaza to almost 50 countries, it is urgent that we increase anti-militarist boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) actions.
Explore the campaign and learn how to support:
Contact elected reps. (Write to MPs and demand that the government take a stronger stance on ending violence, lifting the blockade, and holding perpetrators of war crimes accountable)
Demand a Ceasefire — Amnesty International Canada
Sign petition to call for an immediate ceasefire by all parties to end civilian bloodshed and ensure humanitarian aid access to Gaza.
https://takeaction.amnesty.ca/page/137971/petition/1
Lift the blockade on Gaza, Stop the genocide — Amnesty International Canada
Petition demanding an immediate and lasting ceasefire, full and unimpeded humanitarian access in Gaza, ending military-controlled / non-neutral aid distribution, rejecting complicity via trade or weapons transfers, and pushing for reparations.
https://takeaction.amnesty.ca/page/173139/petition/1
Words Are Not Enough: Canada Must Take Immediate Action to End Complicity in Genocide – Action Network
Petition / letter campaign demanding that Canada break complicity and take enforceable action, not just statements.
Attend or organize local advocacy events: Rallies, panel discussions, and educational events help build awareness and political pressure
Cancel the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement: calls on Canada to cancel its free trade agreement with Israel, arguing that the deal legitimizes Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territories and makes Canada complicit in violations of international law.
https://www.cjpme.org/cancel_cifta
End Palestinian Visa Bias: Write to Canada's Immigration and Foreign Affairs Ministers, urging them to immediately finalize and issue study permits for over 70 Palestinian graduate students who have already been accepted into Canadian universities. Each day of government excuses and inaction risks admission expiry, their safety, and signals that these delays are political choices.
https://www.justiceforallcanada.org/irccletthemstudy.html
Media Literacy
Legal Cases
Palestinian-Canadians' Genocide Prevention Lawsuit:
On November 6, 2024, two Palestinian-Canadians filed a lawsuit in Ontario’s Superior Court against the Attorney General of Canada, alleging that Canada’s failure to prevent alleged genocide in Gaza violates the Genocide Convention and their Charter rights. The plaintiffs seek declarations affirming Canada’s duty to prevent genocide and recognizing violations of their rights to security and equal protection under the law. The case also challenges Canada’s military cooperation with Israel, including arms exports and facilitation of funds to Israel’s Ministry of Defense. For a detailed explanation of the case, watch this video.
Arms Exports to Israel Challenge:
In March 2024, Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights (CLAIHR), alongside Palestinian-Canadian individuals and the human rights organization Al-Haq, initiated legal action in the Federal Court to compel the Canadian government to cease issuing permits for military exports to Israel. The coalition contends that these exports contravene both Canadian and international laws, specifically citing the Export and Import Permits Act, which prohibits issuing permits when there is a substantial risk that the goods could be used to commit serious violations of international law or acts of violence against women and children. Despite mounting evidence of such violations by Israeli forces, including a January 2024 International Court of Justice finding suggesting a plausible case for genocide in Gaza, Canada has continued its arms exports to Israel. The coalition's lawsuit seeks to halt these exports, aligning with similar legal challenges and suspensions in countries like the U.S., U.K., Denmark, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, and Belgium.
Learn more about the case here.
Palestine Extended Family Program Lawsuit:
In February 2025, eleven Gazan families, comprising 53 individuals, filed a lawsuit against the Canadian government over delays in processing temporary visas designed to help Gazans with Canadian relatives escape the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. Despite the Palestine Extended Family Program's launch in January 2024 and the families' prompt submission of required documents, they have yet to receive the necessary application codes to initiate the visa process. With the program set to close on April 22 or upon reaching 5,000 applications—4,782 of which had been accepted by January 4—the families, represented by lawyers Damey Lee, Hana Marku, and Debbie Rachlis, seek a court order compelling immigration officials to process their applications within five days.
Read the Toronto Star story about the lawsuit
Read about Canada’s Palestine Extended Family Program
Resources for Further Learning
“The drone wars,” David Rohde (Reuters, Jan. 26, 2012)
“Living Under Drones: Death, Injury and Trauma to Civilians from US Drone Practices in Pakistan,” James Cavallaro, Stephan Sonnenberg, Sarah Knuckey (International Human Rights and Conflict Resolution Clinic, 2012)
“The Sound of Terror,” Nasser Hussain (Boston Review, Oct. 16, 2013)
“Waiting for the Bomb to Drop,” Paul Saint-Amour (The New York Times, Aug. 3, 2015)
The Drone Eats with Me: A Gaza Diary, Atef Abu Saif (2016)
Don't Look Left: A Diary of Genocide, Atef Abu Saif (2024)
Sonic Warfare: Sound, Affect, and the Ecology of Fear, Steve Goodman (2012)
Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control, Medea Benjamin (2013)
“Elbit Systems profits surge due to increased demand from Israel military in Gaza and Hezbollah conflict” (Middle East Monitor, 2024)
“I dream of a quiet, drone-free Gaza,” Fatma Al Zahraa Sehwail (Al Jazeera, Jan. 21, 2025)
“Targeted & Assassinated”: Gaza Soup Kitchen Chef Mahmoud Almadhoun Killed by Israeli Drone (Democracy Now, Dec. 02, 2024)
More Info: Elbit Systems and Canada Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME)
Drone Wars UK Multimedia Reports – interactive case studies and documentaries by a UK-based organization that examines and challenges the use of armed drones and other lethal military technology.
Drones in the Formation, Development, and Militarization of Israel World Peace Foundation (2022) Killer Drones War on Want Org. (2015)
Traumatic amputations caused by drone attacks in the local population in Gaza: a retrospective cross-sectional study, Heszlein-Lossius, Hanne et al. (The Lancet Planetary Health, Volume 3, Issue 1 2019)
Lethal use of armed drones and the ‘war on terror’: legality under international law. Kontodimos A. (Master’s thesis, University of Tilburg, 2017)
Precisely Wrong: Gaza Civilians Killed by Israeli Drone-Launched Missiles Human Rights Watch, (2009).
Sleepless in Gaza: Israeli drone war on the Gaza Strip Dr. Atef Abu Saif (2014)
Dreaming with drones: Palestine under the shadow of unseen war Aroosa Kanwal (2022)
‘Precise’ Strikes: Fractured Bodies, Fractured Lives – An update on Israel’s drone wars Drone Wars (2019)
Gaza: Life beneath the drones Corporate Watch (2014)
Investigating the Relationship Between Drone Warfare and Civilian Casualties in Gaza, Dr. Ann Rogers (2014)
A Hazard to Human Rights: Autonomous Weapons Systems and Digital Decision-Making Human Rights Watch, (2025)
The true cost of peace: Rebalancing world military spending for a sustainable and peaceful future UN Peace & Security, (2025)
Palestine, Joe Sacco (1993)
Footnotes in Gaza, Joe Sacco (2009)
War on Gaza, Joe Sacco (2024)
The Question of Palestine, Edward Said (1992)
The Hundred Years' War on Palestine, Rashid Khalidi (2020)
My People Shall Live, Leila Khaled, (1971)
This Time We Went Too Far': Truth and Consequences of the Gaza Invasion, Norman Finkelstein, 2011
My Life in the PLO: The Inside Story of the Palestinian Struggle, Shafiq al Hout and Jean Said Makdisi (2019)
Towers of Ivory and Steel: How Israeli Universities Deny Palestinian Freedom, Maya Wind (2024)
Poetry of Resistance in Occupied Palestine, translated by Sulafa Hijjawi (Baghdad, Ministry of Culture and Guidance, 1968)
Rifqa, Mohammed El-Kurd (2021)
How AI tells Israel who to bomb | VOX (2024)
Israel’s hovering drones: Palestinians subjected to anguish of surveillance | Al Jazeera (2024)
“The humanitarian situation in Gaza,” Prof Nizam Mamode testimony | UK Parliament: International Development Committee (2024)
How Israel tests military tech on Palestinians : The Palestine Laboratory E1 | Al Jazeera (2025)
How is Israel’s military tech marketed abroad?: The Palestine Laboratory E2 | Al Jazeera (2025)
Death from Above: How Israeli Drones are Killing Journalists in Gaza | Forbidden Stories (2024)
The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World, Antony Loewenstein
Occupied: The Podcast – Stories from Gaza and the West Bank
The Palestine Lab Series – Al Jazeera investigative podcast, 2024–2025
Israel intensifies use of quadcopters on Palestinians in Gaza – TRT, 2025
Israel’s hovering drones: Palestinians subjected to anguish of surveillance – Al Jazeera English, 2024
Fundraising Support
Palestinian Students & Scholars At Risk (PSSAR): Donate, volunteer, and/or support as an educator/professor
We Are Not Numbers: support emerging writers from Palestine, Get Involved: Subscribe to newsletters, donate, and other CTAs.
Support mutual aid efforts through The Sameer Project (https://linktr.ee/thesameerproject)
More about stitched!
stitched! shows employ oral storytelling and decolonial theatrical techniques, merging them with community-based journalism. Our storywork aims to disrupt traditional journalistic approaches (seeing journalism as aligned to the control of (what/whose) knowledge in partnership with colonial enterprises). We do this by centring the voices of story-sharers (not sources) and through the creation of the role of community gatherer, a journalist who engages with the audience and involves them in questions of role and responsibility, action and direction.
If you wish to support stitched! studio’s efforts at bringing this show to more audiences, e-transfers can be sent to stitchedlive@gmail.com. We ask that you kindly name this e-transfer “Living with Drones.”
If you would like to receive a tax receipt, you can donate directly through Toronto Metropolitan University. Head to the Creative School’s donation page. Under Designate my Gift, click on Other Initiatives and then select stitched from the dropdown menu. This will ensure that your gift comes directly to us.
We can also connect you with our advancement team to facilitate this relationship. Please connect with us at stitchedlive@gmail.com so we can make this introduction.
For more information about this project, updates, and other future projects, please visit https://stitched.live/