Liberal-appointed Sen. Yuen Pau Woo says he is embarrassed by Canada's response to the war in Gaza, accusing the federal government and Parliament of failing to do enough to stop what he described as a genocide.Speaking during a videoconference with pro-Palestinian activists marking what organizers called "1,000 days of genocide" since Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel, Woo said Canada has failed to meet its obligations under international law.“Let me simply say this as a parliamentarian,” Woo said. “I represent in a small way my province and this country and I am embarrassed that I have not been able to do more to stop the genocide.”“This is not the Canada I am proud of,” he added. “This is not the Canada I believe in.”Woo said the United Nations has warned of a "plausible genocide" in Gaza and argued Canada has a responsibility to do everything possible to reduce harm to Palestinians.“And yet I am struck by the repeated denials and prevarication and the dragging of feet on the part of our government to do something concrete,” he said.Blacklock's Reporter said the senator made the remarks during an online event marking 1,000 days since Hamas terrorists attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking hundreds of hostages, including eight Canadians. During the event, Woo also said the conflict must be viewed in the broader context of what he described as 78 years of occupation..“It has been repression that has gone on for decades and decades, the last thousand days of which has been in some ways the most horrific, and the clearest example of the injustice Israel has been meting out to the people of Palestine,” he said.Woo also criticized the Senate for defeating a motion he introduced in 2025 calling on Parliament to condemn what he described as the humanitarian crisis in Palestine, Israel's disregard for international law and the legal risks Canada faces if it fails to respond to alleged crimes against humanity.According to Woo, the motion was defeated by a vote of 40 to 11.“This is why I am so dismayed that within our leadership class, within Parliament, there is so little willingness to recognize our responsibility, our obligation to international law, never mind to help with the suffering of the Palestinian people,” he said.Woo predicted future generations would view the conflict differently.“One day everyone will always have been against this genocide,” he said. “One day all of us will be saying, ‘Of course it was a genocide, of course it was intolerable, of course this was wrong.’”He urged fellow parliamentarians and government leaders to stop what he described as making excuses and to restore Canada's reputation as a defender of human rights and international law.“I just plead with my fellow parliamentarians, I plead with the leaders of this country who I think know deep down that something rotten is going on, to stop the excuses, to stop with the coddling of those who would try to protect Israel at all cost and do what is necessary for Canada to restore its position, its reputation as an upholder of human rights and a protector of international law,” Woo said.
