Last July, UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese filed a detailed report showing how many western companies are making profit out of Israel’s military actions in Palestine. Now a new report digs into how over 100 large Canadians companies, pension funds and banks are equally complicit. Read more.

A new report by Just Peace Advocates has revealed how many Canadian financial institutions, pension funds, banks and insurance companies have invested over $500 billion in companies already identified by the UN as complicit in the Israeli genocide.

The report follows up on an earlier investigation by UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese last year naming 48 corporate actors including US tech giants like Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet. She pointed out that anyone who invests in those companies can be held accountable under domestic laws like Canada’s Criminal Code Section 21 on aiding and abetting, especially given the 2024 ICJ advisory opinion on Israel’s occupation

Just Peace Advocate’s report focuses specifically on the complicity of Canadian financial institutions which invest in the companies named in the Albanese investigation. It analyzed investment data from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), revealing the complicity of more than 100 Canadian financial institutions. This includes 11 pension funds, 8 banks, 7 insurance companies, and 85 investment management organizations.

Leading the charge among banks was the Royal Bank of Canada with over $100 Billion invested in complicit companies. Among Pension funds, the leader was the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board, which manages contributions from over 15 million Canadians and benefits for another 6 million, together representing more than half of Canada’s total population. 

David Kattenburg of Green Planet Monitor interviewed Becca Steckle, Research + Policy Analyst at Just Peace Advocates and lead author of the report.

“While political leaders and governments shirk their obligations, far too many corporate entities have profited from Israel’s economy of illegal occupation, apartheid and now, genocide. The complicity exposed by this report is just the tip of the iceberg; ending it will not happen without holding the private sector accountable,” commented Albanese on releasing the results of her investigation.

Now the Just Peace Advocates report gives Canadians a tool to hold some of Canada’s leading institutions accountable for complicity.

Canada Talks Israel Palestine is the biweekly newsletter of the Ottawa Forum on Israel/Palestine (OFIP). It aims to promote a serious discussion ababout the Israel/Palestine issue from a Canadian perspective. Readers are invited to make comment. To get on our regular mailing list, or for more information write: ofip.chair@gmail.com