Inside the campaign that upended CanLit’s ties to Scotiabank and Israeli arms

 

The grassroots campaign that took on the Giller for its ties to the genocide in Gaza forced a broader reckoning in the Canadian literary community

On a mid-November afternoon in 2023, a handful of people gathered in a pub in Toronto’s Yorkville neighbourhood to put the finishing touches on a carefully assembled plan. Among them was 25-year-old Maysam Abu Khreibeh. She was heartbroken and furious. 

It was just over a month into Israel’s assault on Gaza; a rocket had recently hit the al-Ahli hospital, killing hundreds. Now Israeli forces were surrounding the Al-Shifa hospital. Inside, oxygen was running out and doctors were cutting preterm babies out of women killed by Israeli shells.

Abu Khreibeh is Palestinian and had been participating in rallies since the invasion began. She wanted to do something bigger. 

“It was a huge turning point in terms of what the world deemed permissible,” she recalls. When an organizer she knew reached out asking if she’d participate in an action, she immediately agreed.

Later that evening, Toronto’s cultural elite gathered in the ballroom of the Four Seasons Hotel to anoint the best literary novel of the year. The Giller Prize gala was broadcast live on CBC. Guests sipped champagne and comedian Rick Mercer cracked jokes on stage. He was startled when two people stepped up next to him and unfurled signs that read, “SCOTIABANK FUNDS GENOCIDE.”  (more...)

Inside the campaign that upended CanLit’s ties to Scotiabank and Israeli arms