Here in Canada, many are getting into the holiday spirit by gathering for dinners with friends, crowding into shops and walking under lights strung over streets that were dark just weeks ago. 

For a moment, it can feel as if the wider world is on pause. Meanwhile, Amnesty International has recently released a statement that the genocide in Gaza is ongoing. At the same time, our own government is still exporting the weapons technology that make it possible.

To spell out what the ongoing genocide means in practice, Palestinians are still being starved and displaced, and settler attacks in the West Bank are intensifying instead of fading away. Villages are assaulted, homes and olive trees burned, and people live under the constant threat of being killed outright in the bombings or by gunfire. Faced with that reality, why do we go on as if everything is normal?

This is where the holiday season becomes uncomfortable. “Peace on earth” is not just a slogan on our cards. It is a claim about what we value, and our country’s role is part of that claim. 

In Ottawa, members of Parliament (MPs) are debating Bill C-233, a private member’s bill that targets the heart of that role. It targets a long-standing loophole in Canada’s arms export system, where general permits allow military goods and components to go through the U.S. without the risk assessments required for other destinations. Those parts can then make their journey to states like Israel with little Canadian scrutiny. 

In the House of Commons, MP Jenny Kwan argued that by exempting U.S. bound exports in this way, Canada is breaching the Arms Trade Treaty, which bars transfers that would contribute to genocide or serious violations of the Geneva Conventions. 

Bill C-233, the “No More Loopholes Act,” would close key gaps in Canada’s arms export system. It would make clear that finished weapons as well as the parts, components and technology needed to assemble or use them are covered as “arms, ammunition, implements or munitions of war.” It would end country-based exemptions, stop broad general export and broker permits for military goods, require stronger human rights tests and annual reporting on Canada’s compliance with the Arms Trade Treaty. 

Critics of the current system are not saying that a better law would make Canada innocent. Even if Bill C-233 passed tomorrow, it would not erase the fact that Canada has armed and backed Israel throughout its genocide in Gaza and has treated the apartheid regime as a close ally for decades. 

This bill does not undo that history. But it finally admits that the exporting of our weapons technology is part of the problem, and it tries to stop at least some of the harm from being rubber-stamped. 

The government’s response has been to brush aside reports of Canadian shipments to Israel and instead praise Canada’s export control system, warning that Bill C-233 would damage our defence industry and weaken our international partnerships.

MPs repeat that Canada already has one of the strictest regimes in the world in export controls for arms. With those talking points backed by the government’s numbers in the House, the bill will likely be voted down. If the bill dies, Canada will go on celebrating Christmas, singing about peace while our government continues to help arm a genocide.

This is possible in part because, at Christmas, many people reach for a different story — one of sedation. Sentimental carols, Christmas movies, office parties and the quiet request not to mention Gaza, because “it has been such a hard year already,” take over the season. 

Yet the Christmas story itself is not sedative at all. It is the story of a child born under military occupation to parents who had to flee state violence. If we take that seriously, Christmas is not an invitation to look away from the occupation and violence taking place in the region where Jesus was said to be born. It is a reminder that any words we speak about peace and goodwill are measured against what is happening to Palestinians under Israeli apartheid. 

So, what do we do? First, we must refuse the story that the genocide is over. When you hear the word “ceasefire,” remember that Israel has violated the current agreement numerous times with impunity. Remember, too, that many continue to make clear the genocide has not ceased, and that some of our own MPs continue to fight to end Canada’s ongoing complicity. Refuse the idea that “this has nothing to do with me.” Ask your MP where they stand on Bill C-233 and why. Support campaigns for an arms embargo and for international law to be upheld. 

If we truly believe what we sing about the spirit of Christmas, an ongoing genocide funded and armed by governments, including our own, cannot be treated as background noise.