For around fifty years, Quebec has prided itself on being the Canadian province with the most developed international policy, thanks to the famous “Gérin-Lajoie doctrine”. In recent months, the main diplomatic operation has been to open an office in Tel Aviv, Israel. If the announcement of new diplomatic ties with this country has regularly been the subject of questions and controversies for decades, this choice is even more questionable in the current context.
Since Prime Minister François Legault and his responsible minister, Martine Biron, seem insensitive to arguments concerning international law and humanitarian law, or to the simple prudence which should guide a well-thought-out diplomacy, let us place this decision in the more general framework of Quebec representation in the world.
Quebec diplomacy
In addition to the Tel Aviv office, already listed on the government website, Quebec has representations (delegations, offices and branches) in only 18 countries, out of 193 UN member countries (excluding Palestine). There are representations in the United States (several cities) and in six countries in Europe, four countries in Asia, three in Africa and three in Latin America. Besides Israel, there is no representation in the Middle East.
Faced with such a scarcity of diplomatic resources, we wonder what links with Israel justify this choice. If we rely on the most recent public information from the government on the subject (2016), Israel represents only 0.2% of Quebec’s international trade, with a deficit balance for Quebec (-$54 million). The largest share of Quebec exports (38%) concerns planes, helicopters and other air or space vehicles (with 1.7% more for parts). Reassuring? Not really…
As for the population, Israel does not appear in the table of 15 countries where immigration to Quebec mainly comes from, unlike Algeria, Cameroon and Tunisia, where there is no Quebec representation. The latest public data indicates that there were only 5,410 people born in Israel living in Quebec (but 6,870 of Palestinian origin). Of course, we can argue that it will be a question of increasing these economic and demographic flows, but this excuse would be just as valid for the 174 other countries where Quebec has no representation.
It’s gone badly
A request made under the Act respecting access to documents held by public bodies (file number: MRIF-20240423-003) allows access to the email sent on March 22, 2024 by the head of the office, Alik Hakobyan, to report from his first meeting at the Israeli Foreign Ministry. He was received there — in Israel — by the head of protocol, the advisor for Canada, the lawyer for international treaties, the head of cultural diplomacy, the director of culture, education and academic cooperation and the Director of Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Technology. The latter noted that “in the current context, it is very difficult to bring in entrepreneurs [du Québec] in Israel”, and it will instead be necessary to “organize economic missions to Quebec” for “Israeli entrepreneurs”. In short, the trade balance will still be in deficit.
The head of the Quebec office also indicates that he explained to his Israeli partners that he wanted to work on the development of “academic cooperation and student mobility”, at a time when, on Quebec campuses, student, union and academic bodies are voting their support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign, also affecting Israeli universities.
Upstream and downstream
The government says that this project was planned well before the conflagration of recent months and that we must look to the future. Certainly, but Israel has for decades been the subject of denunciations in terms of international law and human rights. The International Criminal Court recently requested the issuance of arrest warrants against its prime minister and its defense minister, while the International Court of Justice assesses whether this state is committing genocide in Gaza.
Even the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem considers that Israel is an “apartheid regime” — yes, yes, apartheid, which the former head of the secret service also admitted in 2023 (Mossad) Tamir Pardo.
There are 174 other countries where Quebec has no representation, not counting Palestine. Why on earth, then, insist on establishing this office in Israel? This project must be abandoned.