Government challenge on UNRWA funding review case struck down

Published Sep 13, 2024  •  2 minute read

This file photo taken on July 31, 2018 shows a Palestinian man standing in front of the emblem of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) outside the agency's offices in Gaza City. Photo by File photo /AFP via Getty Images

OTTAWA — Efforts by the federal government to quash an ongoing court case seeking a judicial review of Canada’s funding of a contentious UN agency were struck down in court this week.

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On Wednesday, Federal Court Justice Glennys McVeigh dismissed a challenge by the government, who claimed the court had no jurisdiction over the government’s decision to fund the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA,) and that decisions to support international humanitarian causes are made solely by the executive authority of ministers of the Crown.

“There may well be an insufficient objective legal basis to challenge the decision, and it might not ultimately be amenable to judicial review,” Justice McVeigh wrote in her decision.

“However, it cannot be said that the Attorney General’s arguments clearly render the type of ‘show stopper’ or ‘knockout punch’ necessary to strike the application at this stage.”

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Earlier this year, Canadian family members of victims of the Oct. 7 terror attacks filed suit against the federal government for their decision to resume funding UNRWA, despite mountains of evidence that employees of the agency took active roles in the deadly Hamas attacks that killed over 1,000 Israelis and saw hundreds other taken hostage into Gaza.

The families, supported by the Centre for Israeli and Jewish Affairs, allege that Hamas co-locates terrorist infrastructure within UNRWA facilities, and that UNRWA schools teach Palestinian children to hate and kill Jews.

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Canada initially followed-suit with the U.S. State Department in their January decision to suspending funding UNRWA, after evidence of UNRWA’s culpability in the Oct. 7 terror attacks came to light,

Despite this evidence, the Trudeau Liberals reversed that decision in March, in time for Canada it make good on a $25 million funding pledge to UNRWA, part of a $100 million grant announced last June.

The plaintiffs in the suit were pleased with the decision.

“There’s no dispute that humanitarian aid is needed and must urgently reach the civilian population in Gaza, but UNRWA cannot be the agency to fulfill this responsibility,” said co-counsel Lawrence Greenspon. 

“This is not an application to stop Canadian funding for humanitarian aid, it is an application designed to ensure that humanitarian aid actually gets to the people of Gaza who are in desperate need.”

CIJA Vice-President of External Affairs Richard Marceau likewise praised the court’s decision.

“We can now focus on the real issue: that legally, morally, and politically, Ottawa’s decision to resume funding for UNRWA was wrong,” he said.

“The Canadian families who lost loved ones in Hamas’ barbaric terrorist attacks on Oct. 7 have faced the most unbearable of losses, which is why, together we are fighting to reverse the decision and disqualify UNRWA from further Canadian funding.”

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