Rights advocates welcome Canada’s exclusion from Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Mark Carney should not join US plan for Gaza that ‘makes mockery of Palestinian self-determination’, rights groups say.

Canadian human rights groups have welcomed Donald Trump’s decision to revoke an invitation for Prime Minister Mark Carney to join the United States president’s so-called Board of Peace, saying Canada should not take part in a “colonial scheme”.

The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) said on Friday that “it is a relief that Canada is no longer welcome” on the Trump-led board.

“At a time of mass war crimes and humanitarian disaster in Gaza, Canada should be trying to align with international law and human rights,” the group said on social media.

“The ‘Board of Peace’ makes a mockery of Palestinian self-determination and Canada should have nothing to do with it.”

That was echoed by the advocacy group Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME), which said Carney’s participation would have given the board “undeserved legitimacy”.

“Canadians want to see principled opposition to Trump’s power grab, not mixed messages,” the organisation said on X.

Trump announced late on Thursday that he had withdrawn an invitation to Carney to join what the US president said would be “the most prestigious Board of Leaders ever assembled, at any time”.

Earlier that day, Trump had held a signing ceremony at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to unveil the Board of Peace’s charter, alongside the leaders of several participating countries.

Washington has presented the initiative as an important part of Trump’s 20-point plan to end Israel’s genocidal war against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 71,500 people since October 2023.

The US has named senior Trump administration officials and other world leaders to the board, which will oversee a Palestinian technocratic committee tasked with managing day-to-day affairs in Gaza.

The US president’s team also announced a reconstruction plan for the enclave on Thursday, saying that billions of dollars in investments would be secured.

But Palestinians have criticised the Trump administration’s push for failing to give them a real say in the future of the coastal territory.

They also have condemned the board’s inclusion of staunch Israel supporters, as well as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for alleged war crimes committed in Gaza.

“The reconstruction plan that was announced won’t compensate Palestinians for what they lost and need,” Gaza resident Mohammed Shamalkh told Al Jazeera.

“What I wish for is first the removal of the toxic substances in the rubble, and then I want the reconstruction of my house in the same way it used to be.”

Another resident, Nimer Matar, also said, “The reconstruction that we want is going back home … to rebuild what was bombed.”

Trump did not say why his invitation to Carney to join the Board of Peace was rescinded.

But the move came just days after the Canadian prime minister said during a well-received speech in Davos that a US-led world order faced a moment of “rupture” amid coercion and threats.

The Canadian prime minister’s remarks drew the ire of Trump, who warned Carney during his own Davos address that “Canada lives because of the United States”.

“Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements,” the Republican leader said.

Tensions between the longtime allies have been mounting for months amid Trump’s push to impose steep tariffs on Canadian goods and repeated threats to turn Canada into the US’s “51st state”.