Pro-Palestine group alleges discrimination after City of Vancouver denies celebration request

A group of community members in support of Palestine is alleging discrimination after the City of Vancouver changed its policy and denied their applications to officially celebrate the nation.

In May, as part of its Illumination Program, the city lit up parts of Vancouver City Hall and the Burrard Street Bridge with the blue and white colours to celebrate Israel’s day of independence. 

Allies and members of the Palestinian community gathered outside City Hall to protest the decision. 

Protestors said the display was an “outrage,” given Israel’s military actions in Gaza.

“It is particularly outrageous that Vancouver has seen fit to celebrate the founding of the Israeli regime — itself based on the forced displacement of over 70 per cent of the Palestinian people,” said a release by a protest group in May.

Since that time, a group called Illuminate for Palestine formed, hoping to convince the city to celebrate Friday, Nov. 29, the United Nations-recognized International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, in the same way.

Members of the group say they sent dozens of applications for the day to be included in the Illumination Program but were all denied. 

“We were quite shocked to receive these rejection letters,” said Willow Langford with Illuminate For Palestine. “Especially at a time when they’re undergoing what’s been deemed by the international courts ‘plausible genocide.'”

In September, city council approved amendments to the Civic Protocol Policy that “enhance clarity around eligibility” for the Illumination Program. Specifically, a report by the city says the program will now be “focusing exclusively on local events, by removing international recognitions.”

Illuminate for Palestine says the city’s timing is suspect.

“After the City had no issue recognizing other cultural and national events earlier in the year, it feels impossible not to see this as a clear case of racial discrimination,” said Lubna Samman, a member of the local Palestinian community. 

Langford says applicants to the program weren’t notified of the change. She says the city’s rejection of all international recognitions is probably for the best — adding that the city has technically recognized Palestine as a sovereign nation by exclusion —  but the group feels the imbalance is disappointing and discriminatory.

“The city seems to have listened to the community outrage that happened about the May illumination in making these changes,” said Langford.

“But what’s lost, and what’s concerning around this timeline, is that the way it’s brought in is that the Palestinian community isn’t recognized and isn’t acknowledged.

“It was really just something small that we were asking for a symbolic gesture to say, ‘Yes, we recognize you.'”

In a statement to 1130 NewsRadio, the City of Vancouver says the updates to its policies “ensure that requests for illuminating City Hall and Burrard Bridge align with Council priorities; emphasize local events.”

Langford says the timing of the city’s actions “does not seem to be a neutral stance at all.”

“This is a political statement, and it sends a harmful message to the local Palestinian community and all those who stand in solidarity with us,” said Samman.

The city claims that its approach “aligns with what other municipalities are doing,” but Langford says the nearby City of Port Moody has agreed to illuminate some of its facilities Friday in support of the Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. 1130 NewsRadio has reached out to the City of Port Moody for confirmation.

Ultimately, Langford says, Illuminate for Palestine is left with questions. 

“Why did this change have to come in at the end of the year? Why did it have to come in [to effect] immediately? And why were the applications assessed under new criteria without applicants even being notified?”

A complete list of celebrations officially recognized by the City of Vancouver can be found on its website, as well as a list of all upcoming and ongoing illuminations, which now omits international recognitions.