Canada

US documents say the organization helps fund a terrorist group. But lawyers warn of chilling legitimate protest.

The moment Jada-Gabrielle Pape saw an online National Post report calling her “one of Samidoun’s most active organizers,” she was gripped with fear.

The Canadian government had declared the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network a terrorist entity less than a month earlier. Samidoun has been an active presence at many protests in Vancouver.

“As an Indigenous person, we’re targeted by the state at a disproportionate rate,” said Pape, who is Coast Salish from the Saanich and Snuneymuxw nations. “I’m afraid to be targeted by the police and by the state and afraid of what it will do to my family. My family is very afraid for me.”

Pape immediately reached out to the National Post to demand a correction. The columnist hadn’t contacted her before claiming, without evidence, she was a member of a terrorist organization, she noted.

Editors quickly removed any reference to her from the article. The National Post did not respond to The Tyee’s request for comment.