Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced that Canada will formally recognise the state of Palestine in September, aligning the country with recent similar declarations from France and the United Kingdom.
Carney said the decision is contingent on democratic reforms within the Palestinian Authority, including the organisation of national elections in 2025 that exclude the Hamas group.
This declaration follows the UK’s pledge to recognise Palestinian statehood later this year unless Israel agrees to a ceasefire and other outlined terms. France had also recently made a comparable commitment.
Canada’s planned recognition has drawn sharp criticism from Israel’s foreign ministry, which denounced the move as “a reward for Hamas.”
Despite such opposition, 147 out of 193 United Nations member states already recognise Palestine as a state.
Speaking to journalists on Wednesday, Carney confirmed that Canada’s official recognition would take place during the upcoming UN General Assembly.
He pointed to several key factors behind the policy shift: Israel’s continued settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, the worsening humanitarian conditions in Gaza, and the Hamas-led assault on Israel on 7 October 2023.
“The level of human suffering in Gaza is intolerable and it is rapidly deteriorating,” Carney said.
He added that recognition would be tied to the Palestinian Authority’s commitment to deep governance reforms and the demilitarisation of Palestinian territory.
Canada has traditionally supported a two-state solution achieved through negotiation, but Carney admitted that stance was no longer viable.
“This approach is no longer tenable,” he said. “The prospect of a Palestinian state is being eroded before our eyes.”
Carney also revealed he had spoken earlier on Wednesday with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas regarding Canada’s position.
The Palestinian Authority, governed by Fatah under Abbas, controls parts of the West Bank, while Hamas operates in Gaza. Both regions have not held elections since 2006.
Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed opposition, claiming in a post on X that Canada’s move “harms the efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and a framework for the release of the hostages.”
Canada’s Conservative Party echoed this sentiment, warning the decision could send the wrong global message.
“Recognising a Palestinian state in the aftermath of the October 7 terrorist atrocities sends the wrong message to the world,” the opposition stated.
Carney has faced growing pressure to clarify Canada’s stance on Palestinian statehood, especially in light of announcements from key allies like the UK and France.
Earlier this week, nearly 200 former Canadian diplomats and ambassadors signed a letter urging the government to support Palestinian statehood, citing humanitarian and security concerns.
The letter criticised the ongoing displacement and starvation of civilians in Gaza and violence from extremist settlers in the West Bank, warning that Canada’s foundational principles were being compromised.
Asked whether the decisions by London and Paris influenced his government or whether he consulted former US President Donald Trump, Carney stated that Canada’s foreign policy is determined independently.
Should both France and the UK follow through with their recognitions, the United States, Israel’s closest ally, would remain the only permanent member of the UN Security Council not to acknowledge Palestine as a sovereign state.
The latest conflict was triggered by Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on southern Israel, which killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage.
In response, Israel launched a prolonged offensive in Gaza, where over 60,000 people have reportedly been killed and 154 deaths, 89 of them children, have been attributed to malnutrition, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
