MONTREAL COUNCIL PASSES AMENDED PALESTINE SOLIDARITY MOTION 54–6 AFTER CITY ADMINISTRATION REMOVES KEY ISRAEL-TIES PROVISION
MONTREAL — Montréal City Council has adopted an amended version of Project Montréal’s controversial Israel–Palestine motion by a 54–6 show-of-hands vote, following an intense debate at City Hall Monday night.
The final vote, however, was not on Project Montréal’s original proposal as written.
Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada’s Ensemble Montréal administration introduced major amendments, including the removal of provisions calling on Montréal to suspend institutional and diplomatic relations with the Israeli government, Israeli institutions and Israeli municipalities. The final motion instead emphasized solidarity with Palestinians and civilian victims, along with unity, respect and dialogue in Montréal.
Project Montréal Opposition Leader Ericka Alneus welcomed the adoption as a “historic gesture” but acknowledged that the administration’s amendments had significantly diluted her party’s original intention.
STRONG COMMUNITY CAMPAIGNS ON BOTH SIDES
Before the vote, supporters of the original motion mounted a major campaign. An August 17 open letter listed 132 organizations and 1,458 individual supporters, including the Coalition du Québec URGENCE Palestine, Ligue des droits et libertés, Amnistie internationale Canada francophone, Palestiniens et Juifs unis/Palestinian and Jewish Unity (PAJU), CCMM–CSN and Academics and Staff for Palestine at Concordia University.
A separate campaign also brought together more than 700 Quebec artists and cultural figures supporting the original motion, including Xavier Dolan, Luc Picard, Florence Longpré, Fred Pellerin, Mani Soleymanlou, Nathalie Doummar and Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette.
But opposition was also highly organized.
A full-page “MONTRÉAL POUR TOUS!” appeal published before the vote called for security, the rule of law and social cohesion and urged councillors not to turn City Hall into a forum for international legal judgments.
Among the public signatories shown in the newspaper appeal were L. Yves Fortier, Sen. Leo Housakos, Sen. Tony Loffreda, former Quebec minister Pierre Fitzgibbon, former Montréal mayor Denis Coderre, CRARR executive director Fo Niemi, Université de Montréal law professor Jean-François Gaudreault-DesBiens, broadcaster Elias Makos, James de la Paz of the Association québécoise des artistes philippins, Sharon Nelson, David Foster and broadcaster Terry DiMonte, among others.
Notably, the appeal presented itself as coming from people from different business, professional, cultural, media and community backgrounds and stated that its organizers/signatories were not speaking as members of Montréal’s Jewish community.
The “Montréal pour tous” campaign argued that foreign policy belongs primarily to the federal government and that City Council should concentrate on housing, streets, municipal services, public safety and social cohesion.
WHAT ACTUALLY PASSED
The 54–6 result should therefore not be reported as “Montreal voted 54–6 to cut ties with Israel.”
That provision was removed before the final vote.
The accurate result is:
Montréal City Council voted 54–6 for an amended Palestinian-solidarity motion after the Martinez Ferrada administration removed the original demand to suspend institutional and diplomatic ties with Israel.
Because the final decision was taken by a show of hands rather than a recorded roll-call vote, the available reporting does not identify all six councillors who voted against the amended motion.
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