June 13th

Day of Action Toolkit

WHAT’S IN THIS TOOLKIT?

In this toolkit, you’ll find:

• An overview of the June 13th Day of Action
• A step-by-step guide to planning your action
• Resources, including a giant printable version of the MP sign-on letter, posters, and template media advisories and releases
  
  

ACTION OVERVIEW

 Context.. 

On May 7, unions and civil society organizations across the country launched Arms Embargo Now— a cross-sectoral campaign calling on the federal government to impose a full and immediate arms embargo on Israel. Since launching, the campaign has garnered the support of 400+ unions and civil society organizations, and has secured the support of close to 40 Members of Parliament from across party lines.

But as the death toll in Gaza continues to climb, we must escalate the pressure on our MPs from coast-to-coast and force them to support the call for an end to Canada’s arms trade with Israel.

On June 13th, before the House of Commons rises for the summer, we’ll take action at MP offices across the country and demand that they sign onto the letter calling for a full and immediate arms embargo on Israel.

 Why an Arms Embargo?.. 

United Nations human rights experts warn that sending Israel weapons, ammunition or components that it would use in Gaza likely violates international humanitarian law, and the United Nations Human Rights Council has called on all states to immediately “cease the sale, transfer and diversion of arms, munitions and other military equipment to Israel.”

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that there is a “plausible” case that Israel is committing acts of genocide in Gaza, and that Palestinians there face a “real and imminent risk” of genocide. By reiterating that States have an obligation to prevent genocide, the ICJ ruling puts Canada on notice that, as a party to the Genocide Convention, it must do everything within its power to prevent genocide in Gaza.

That is not what Canada is currently doing.

Canadian companies export weapons, components, and military technology to Israel, including via the United States. These military exports, whether directly or by way of intermediaries, put Canada at risk of complicity in Israel’s grave human rights violations in Gaza and the West Bank.

Canada also buys and permits the import of military technology from Israel. It is Israel’s sixth largest arms buyer. Gaza and the West Bank function as a laboratory for Israeli arms manufacturers. The weapons deployed against Palestinians, including during Israel’s wars on Gaza, are marketed to international customers like the Government of Canada as “battle-tested” and “combat-proven.” Canadian tax-dollars pay for these Israeli-made weapons, providing profits to the Israeli arms industry and giving Israel moral cover for using those weapons against Palestinians.

While the Minister of Foreign Affairs has verbally committed to pausing approvals of future arms export permits to Israel, Canada must go further. It must cancel existing export permits, close all export loopholes, and implement an Arms Embargo under Canada’s Special Economic Measures Act, which recognizes the necessity of a two-way prohibition.

 Demand.. 

We are demanding that ALL MPs across party lines support the call for a full and immediate arms embargo on Israel, and that the Canadian government cancel existing export permits, close all export loopholes, stop all planned purchases of Israeli weapons, and implement a two-way Arms Embargo on Israel.

 Action Designs.. 

On June 13th, we’ll bring giant versions of the MP Arms Embargo Now Sign-On Letter to Members of Parliament across the country and call on them to publicly support the call for a full and immediate arms embargo on Israel. Actions can look different from coast-to-coast and might include postering every inch of the outside of their office with Arms Embargo Now posters, picketing or hosting a rally outside their office, delivering petition signatures, finding ways to visually display the mounting death toll in Gaza, etc.

Here are examples of what your actions might look like:

STEPS TO ORGANIZING AN ACTION

If you have never organized an action before, don’t worry! We’ve broken down the process into 8 simple steps and will connect you with others in your community hoping to take action on June 13th.

 Step 1: Assemble a Team. 

• Find at least two other friends or neighbours who are interested in planning the action with you
• If you live in a community that already has a local riding-level team or group that you know of pressuring your MP to do more on Palestine, reach out and see whether they are already planning a June 13th Action and how you can support
  

 Step 2: Choose Your Target, Location and Time.  

• Choose which federal MP you will target— in most cases, this will be your own MP, however, if your MP has already signed onto the Arms Embargo Now letter, prioritize supporting other ridings, especially ridings with Liberal backbench MPs.

• Choose a time for your action— ideally, your action will take place when your MP’s office is still open. Consider hosting your action in the morning before people head to work, over lunch hour, or late afternoon/early evening as people head home from work.

 Step 3: Confirm Your Action. 

• Once you have confirmed the location (i.e. MP’s office) and time of your action, please email info@armsembargonow.ca as soon as possible so we can begin publicizing your event and ensure that multiple competing actions aren’t taking place at the same office  
• If multiple people hand raise to organize an action outside the same MP’s office, we will connect you to coordinate efforts

 Step 4: Design Your Action. 

• Design Your Action

• Once you’ve confirmed your action, begin to design what your action will look like depending on how many attendees you can reasonably expect. If you live in a rural or Conservative riding where your turnout will be smaller, choose a design that is very visual (like postering) and doesn’t rely on large numbers of people to be a success.
• If you can reasonably expect a large turnout, design your action accordingly. Invite speakers, performers, etc. Consider what action you can take that will be different from actions you’ve done before or repeat an action that was incredibly successful in the past but hasn’t been done again in a while.
• We strongly recommend that all actions print out a giant copy of the MP sign-on letter to deliver to their MPs. While they’ve been hiding from the digital version of the letter for over a month now, we want to make it as difficult as possible for them to avoid signing onto the letter for a full and immediate arms embargo— and make it as obvious as possible to their constituents should they choose to do so.

• Designate Roles

• To help make the planning process run as smoothly as possible, designate roles from the outset. Who will be responsible for the event logistics and materials? Who will be responsible for social media and promoting your action? Who will adapt the press release we will send you to alert local media?
• Here are some key roles you may want to fill depending on how large your team is:

• Outreach Lead who plans how you’ll recruit people and promote your event, and ensures the outreach happens (emails, texting, phone banking, social media, etc.).
• Social Media Lead(s) who will be responsible for social media platforms. If you plan to post on multiple platforms (Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, etc), it helps to have several people.
• Art Lead who bottom-lines creating the giant sign-on letter, signs, banners, props and other art elements for the action.
• Media Lead who compiles a press list and ensures a media advisory and press release are sent out to reporters. (We will add a template media advisory and media release to this toolkit under the Resources section soon).

• And here are some additional roles you’ll want to designate for the Day-Of:

• Photographer to take a range of compelling photos and video content.
• Action Host/MC who is prepared to speak compellingly about why we’re here and introduce the plan and other speakers. 
• Materials Lead who will bring art, props, and all other necessary materials for your action. It might be useful to assign a couple others to help with transportation, set up, or take down.
• Action Marshals who will be responsible for ensuring the safety of participants by maintaining the perimetres of the action, sharing information between organizers and participants, and taking the lead if any police/security show up. Depending on the scale and nature of your action, it might be worth designating a police liaison.
• Media Spokespeople who will speak to the media during the action. Have your media spokesperson review the letter and FAQs on the Arms Embargo Now website, and practice being interviewed.
• Accessibility, health & safety, or support volunteers who will help support participants to engage in the action, share information, distribute water, masks, or snacks, troubleshoot issues that arise, etc.
• Sign-up Team to gather attendees names and emails/phone numbers for follow up after the event.
  

• Create Visuals for Your Action

• We encourage teams to print off a giant version of the MP sign-on letter, print out Arms Embargo Now posters, create an Arms Embargo Now banner, and/or make any other visuals that will help to forefront the demand for a full and immediate Arms Embargo on Israel.

 Step 5: Outreach and Promotion. 

In the week leading up to your action, reach out to as many people as possible to invite them to attend. The Arms Embargo Now Campaign Team will promote your actions across social media, via email, and on our website, but here are some other ideas for outreach:

• Circulate the action on Instagram and Twitter, and ask other local groups and organizations to help amplify
• Poster your neighbourhood ahead of the action
• Canvass door-to-door or at busy community sites like transit stations ahead of the action
• Directly invite your neighbours and friends to attend by reaching out via individual text messages, phone calls and emails
• Distribute flyers in your apartment building, neighbourhood, and at local supportive businesses

 Step 6: Reach Out to the Media.   

Media is a useful tool to amplify our message and call attention to the growing momentum behind the call for a two-way arms embargo on Israel. We’ll do some work nationally to draw the media’s attention to the Day of Action, but here’s what you can do at the local level:

• Step 1. Identify local media contacts— reach out to local organizations for their media lists if you don’t already have one
• Step 2. Create a local media advisory— we’ll post a template advisory here soon that you can adapt to your local context. Send the media advisory the morning of your action.
• Step 3. Designate media spokespeople— designate people who will be prepared to speak to the media. Write a list of questions that the media may ask and have your spokesperson practice responding to them.  
• Step 4. Send out a press release— we’ll post a template media release here soon that you can adapt to your local context. After your action has taken place, upload pictures to your release before sending it out to local media.
  
  *Send any local footage of your actions to info@armsembargonow.ca so we can share it across our social media and on our website.

 Step 7: Take Action!.   

BEFORE

• Remind people via social media, text messages, phone calls, etc. that your action is happening!
• Prepare to capture footage of your action— before your action, identify which social media platforms and accounts you’ll use to share photos and videos of your action as it’s happening. On Instagram, add @PalSolidarityCad and @WorldBeyondWarCanada as collaborators so we can amplify your actions.
• Send out your media advisory the morning of your action and call reporters directly to remind them of the action

DURING

• Take high-quality photos and videos of your action, include visuals like banners, art, and signs, and take a variety of shots (e.g. some wide shots of the entire crowd, some close-ups of individuals’ actions, signs, etc.)
• Share across social media with the hashtag #ArmsEmbargoNow #StopArmingGenocide so we can amplify your actions. Include photos and videos in your social media posts and tag accounts with large followings who can amplify (@PalSolidarityCad, @PYMToronto, @WorldBeyondWarCanada, @labourforpalestine, @CJPMEofficial, @ijv.canada, plus any relevant local groups!)
• Gather the contact information of as many attendees as possible at your action! This way you can remain in touch and plug them into future organizing efforts, including plans to escalate pressure on MPs throughout the summer to impose a full and immediate arms embargo

AFTER

• Debrief how your action went with your planning team. Talk through what went well and what you’d do differently next time.
• Share the best photos and footage from your action with the Arms Embargo Now team by emailing info@armsembargonow.ca 

 Step 8: Plan What Comes Next.   

Gather with your Organizing Team to determine how you plan to escalate the pressure on your MP to sign onto the letter, and stay tuned at armsembargonow.ca for the next steps in the campaign to win a full and immediate arms embargo on Israel.

RESOURCES: MEDIA & VISUALS FOR YOUR ACTION

Use the following links to edit and print out visuals for your actions:

• Canva graphic template to promote your action
• Posters to poster their offices
• Giant MP sign-on letter to print
• Template media advisory (click File > Make a Copy, and then in the new file customize all of the text in pink to make sure it's accurate to your local action)
• Template media release (click File > Make a Copy, and then in the new file customize all of the text in pink to make sure it's accurate to your local action)