PHOTOS: Edmonton Rallies for Palestine and for Residential School Survivors

By YCLers in Edmonton, Alberta

On May 9, thousands organized in Edmonton in response to the drastic escalation of Israeli intervention in Sheikh Jarrah and the West Bank. International support for the right of self-determination of Palestinians is growing, and within Edmonton there are many people of Arab, Persian, and Jewish descent who see the occupation of Palestine by apartheid Israel as a crime against humanity.

Since these rallies took place, discussions surrounding how to support the cause of Palestinians have grown, and calls for the Canadian government to end its support of Israel have not ceased, rather expanding into other decolonial, peace, and solidarity movements. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!

The photographs below are from a demonstration honouring victims and survivors of residential schools.
The event was hosted on 118 Avenue in Edmonton, an area where many Indigenous women have gone
missing, and where many community members have been forced into precarious housing or are experiencing homelessness.

The effects of colonization leave deep wounds in communities across the city – these wounds have not
had a chance to heal as the knife has not stopped cutting, by way of economic and political poverty and
dispossession in all areas of public life. Youth are growing more and more conscious of the legacies of colonization and resistance to Indigenous genocide in Canada is growing more and more fierce.