Xavier Dolan, NARCY, Luc Picard, Safia Nolin, Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette, Mani Soleymanlou and more than 600 signatories ask municipal elected officials to support the motion on August 24
More than 600 artists, cultural workers and cultural organizations from Quebec signed a joint declaration calling on members of the City of Montreal municipal council to vote in favor of the motion of solidarity with the Palestinian people on August 24, 2026.
The declaration is an initiative of the Anti-Apartheid Club of Quebec Artists, in response to the call of the Montreal Anti-Apartheid collective. Among the signatories are Xavier Dolan, NARCY, Luc Picard, Virginie Fortin, Florence Longpré, Philippe Falardeau, Safia Nolin, Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette, Mani Soleymanlou, Miryam Charles, Raed Hammoud, Léane Labrèche-Dor, Julie Le Breton, Fanny Britt, Debbie Lynch-White, Catherine Brunet, Pier-Philippe Chevigny, Myriam Verreault, Charlie Khalil Prince, Sophie Dupuis, Tranna Wintour, Emna Achour, Phara Thibault and Xavier Watso, as well as artists and workers from Quebec’s cinema, television, theater, music, dance, literature and visual arts circles. Cultural organizations and collectives also supported the declaration, including Grande Mobilization pour les Arts (GMAQ), Realizers Equitable, Éditions du stirring, Funambules Media, Suoni Per Il Popolo, Videographer, Teesri Duniya Theater, the Filminists Festival, Full Screen(s) and Artists for Peace.
“Artists have a responsibility to remain attentive to the lives and stories that governments would prefer to prevent us from seeing. We cannot speak of human dignity in our work and then remain silent when an entire people is deprived of this dignity, with the complicity of our governments,” declared Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette, filmmaker and author. The declaration recalls that Montreal has already taken a position against apartheid. In 1987, Mayor Jean Doré refused to award municipal contracts to companies that were profiting from the apartheid regime in South Africa. A few months after his release, Nelson Mandela visited Montreal and highlighted the city’s contribution to the international struggle against apartheid. The signatories ask Montreal to honor this legacy by taking a clear stand in the face of persistent violations of international law in Palestine and Lebanon. “Montréal has always been a city that leads the way. We innovate, we reinvent, we think about the future and we coexist in the streets like nowhere else in the world. As an Arab and Muslim artist with deep roots in this city, the violence inflicted on Palestine and throughout our region not only touches my mind, it touches my body, my soul and my community. This is why, at this pivotal moment in the history of humanity, we have the duty to take a stand together against apartheid, as one body, one people. It’s up to everyone to reach out to each other.” NARCY, multimedia artist and professor,” declared NARCY, Multimedia Artist and professor. The motion calls on the City of Montreal to recognize and denounce the apartheid regime imposed in Palestine and the genocide perpetrated there. It also affirms the solidarity of the City with the Palestinian people and all civilian victims of hostilities in the region. This position, maintain the signatories, must be based on a coherent and universal application of human rights. “Solidarity cannot be selective. We cannot ask people to oppose oppression when it affects our own communities while remaining silent when Palestinians are deprived of freedom, security and dignity. Montreal must demonstrate that its commitment to human rights applies to everyone. » declared Tranna Wintour, comedian, author and performing artist. The motion also calls on Montreal to suspend its institutional ties with the current Israeli government, its institutions and its municipalities until Israel returns to its internationally recognized borders, ceases its violations of the rights of the Palestinian people and respects international law. For filmmaker Pier-Philippe Chevigny, the August 24 vote will constitute a historic moment that will make it possible to separate concrete positions from declarations of neutrality. “As a political filmmaker, I think we cannot underestimate the historical weight of the vote to which the members of the municipal council will be subjected. One day the Netanyahu government will collapse, it is inevitable. At that time, as at the end of the Nazi regime, those who showed themselves to be complicit, those who presented a facade of neutrality while supporting the maintenance of economic exchanges with Israel will have to face the tribunal of history. At that time, Montreal filmmakers will remember August 24, 2026. » The motion also reaffirms the importance of combating all forms of racism, including anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. It specifies that Jewish people cannot be held responsible for the actions of the Israeli State because of their Jewish identity. The declaration brings together artists from different disciplines, generations and communities, testifying to a growing desire within the Montreal cultural community to see the City take concrete actions. Charlie Khalil Prince, choreographer, connects and calls for the need to oppose colonial violence and the erasure of Palestinian and Palestinian peoples more broadly. Lebanese: “As the genocide perpetrated by the Zionist colonial regime in Palestine continues, and as this same regime seeks to dispossess the Lebanese people of their land, annex and make South Lebanon uninhabitable, we have an obligation to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian and Lebanese people. We must reject colonialism, occupation, apartheid, dispossession and the systematic dehumanization of Palestinian and Lebanese lives. We must also refuse the normalization of genocide as well as the erasure of our histories, our lands and our right to self-determination. I believe that Montreal, as a city with a history of struggle against apartheid, has the responsibility to act. As artists and cultural workers, we must refuse to remain silent and oppose the systems of colonial violence, wherever they are rampant. Signatories call on the city to examine its own ties to companies and institutions that contribute to the actions of the Israeli government. They consider that municipal silence in the face of these activities also engages the responsibility of Montreal. “The inaction of the City of Montreal in the face of the abjections committed against the Palestinian people is shameful. By not denouncing the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the illegal colonization of the occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank, Montreal makes its citizens complicit in its silence. The city is also complicit by letting companies based on its territory produce and sell military goods to the Israeli government is to break this silence that we are speaking out today, in order to defend the idea of a city where respect for human rights, peace and international law are indisputable values, and where all forms of racism or discrimination are impossible” declared Laura-Ève Lambert, author. This request for action does not arise from a rejection of Montreal, but from an attachment to the city and the values that it claims to defend. The signatories wish to be proud to see Montreal play a leading role in the fight against apartheid and human rights violations. “I am an artist deeply in love with my city and I refuse to allow it to be complicit in crimes against humanity of which the Palestinian people are victims. It would be a source of great pride for Montreal to take a firm position against apartheid and to lead the fight to end the atrocities in Palestine, as in Lebanon. » declared Coralie Laperrière, author and comedian. This mobilization finally demonstrates a growing desire within the Quebec cultural community to use the creation and public visibility of artists to amplify voices that are too often ignored. “My role as an artist is not simply to clown and entertain. Singer-songwriter Nina Simone said it was our “duty to reflect the times”. It is impossible to reflect our times, to write, to play, to create, without fighting for respect for human dignity, and therefore without requiring our governments to take a clear position against the ongoing genocide in Palestine. My role is and always will be to use my voice to amplify those we do not deign to listen to. As public figures, we have a huge platform – disproportionate to our relevance, sometimes – and it’s time to use it wisely. » declared Emna Achour, columnist and comedian. The motion will be put to a vote by the Montreal city council on August 24, 2026.
The full declaration and list of signatories are available here: mtlantiapartheid.ca/club-a-a-aAbout the Anti-Apartheid Club of Quebec Artists The Anti-Apartheid Club of Quebec Artists was founded in June 2026 by artists and cultural workers who came together to support the work of Montreal Anti-Apartheid by mobilizing the Quebec cultural community.