In May of 2025, Vancouver Monthly Meeting became the first Friends Meeting in Canada to sign the Apartheid-Free Communities pledge*. This pledge is an initiative of a worldwide movement of Quaker and other faith communities and communities of conscience committed to striving to dismantle Israel’s
apartheid regime. The text of the pledge is as follows:
WE AFFIRM: our commitment to freedom, justice, and equality for the Palestinian people and all
peoples;
WE OPPOSE: all forms of racism, bigotry, discrimination, and oppression; and
WE DECLARE: ourselves an Apartheid-free community and to that end,
WE PLEDGE: to join others in working to end all support to Israel’s Apartheid regime, settler
colonialism, and military occupation.
By signing the pledge, a community publicly commits to take actions that express their love for equality, justice, and a better world for all people everywhere as a member of the Apartheid-free Communities network, which shares resources, opportunities for action, and support.
As of June 2026, 10 monthly meetings and one half-yearly meeting are now signatories to this initiative convened by the American Friends Service Committee.
The Apartheid-Free network is a coalition of communities who pledge to work together to end Israeli apartheid. This coalition formed in 2022, following the emerging consensus among the international human rights community that Israel’s treatment of the Palestinian people amounts to the Crime of Apartheid. Originally created by faith groups in North America, the network currently includes congregations, faith communities, solidarity organizations, non-profits, campus groups, businesses, and more. More information about the Apartheid-free network and pledge is available at https://apartheid-free.org/.
*The full minutes of the 22 May 2025 Meeting for Worship with with a Concern for Business are available here:VaMM_M4W4B_22May2025. Minute 6 concerns Vancouver Monthly Meeting making the Apartheid-Free Communities Pledge.