As the death toll continues to rise in Gaza and Palestinians in the West Bank are killed by Israeli settlers and soldiers, Canada’s second-largest pension fund has no plans to cut its $13.5 billion investment dollars in companies implicated in human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). This is what emerges from the testimony of Charles Emond, president and CEO of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), before the Public Finance Committee of the National Assembly of Quebec on April 24, in response to the questions from Quebec Solidaire MP Haroun Bouazzi.
A month earlier, on March 26, the United Nations Human Rights Council received a report from the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, titled Anatomy of a genocide, which concluded “that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the threshold indicating that Israel has committed genocide has been met.”
On the same day, the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights presented a report on Israeli settlements in the OPT during the period from 1er November 2022 to October 31, 2023 according to which “the drastic acceleration, particularly after October 7, 2023, of long-standing trends of discrimination, oppression and violence against Palestinians that accompany the Israeli occupation and the “Settlement expansion has brought the West Bank to the brink of catastrophe.” There are some 700,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, living in around 300 settlements and outposts.
Despite these facts, according to the Just Peace Movement based on investigations carried out by AFSC Investigate and Who Profits, the Fund has maintained its investments in 80 companies identified in its 2023 year-end holdings that are involved in violations specific human rights issues in the context of the Israeli occupation.
For example, it continues to invest $4.1 billion in WSP Global Inc. (WSP), a Montreal-based company, of which it is the majority shareholder. WSP is an integral part of the Jerusalem Light Rail Expansion, which contributes to the maintenance of Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem, annexed by Israel in violation of international law.
WSP was contracted by Israel as the monitoring company for the project and plays an important role, which includes reviewing designs, monitoring quality and progress on behalf of the state, and guaranteeing that the project is carried out in accordance with specifications. These facts contradict Mr. Emond’s statement to Mr. Bouazzi according to which “their involvement is quite weak, it is just a contract which concerns quality control, which is respect for budgets and schedules, distance. »
In reality, WSP facilitates the transfer of part of the population of the occupying power to the OPT, in violation of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 1949. By its active support to the Israel’s settlement company in East Jerusalem, WSP is involved in blatant and systematic violations of the fundamental human rights of the Palestinian population.
Israeli settlements in the OPT were declared contrary to international law by the International Court of Justice in 2004. United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 (2016) reaffirmed that Israel’s establishment of these settlements had no basis in law and constituted a flagrant violation of international law.
In 2021, Canadian Michael Link, Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the OPT, concluded that these settlements also constituted a war crime. In 2024, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights considered it a war crime likely to give rise to individual criminal responsibility for those involved.
Another Caisse investment that Mr. Bouazzi questioned Mr. Emond about is in Policity, the Israeli police academy, through G4S, owned by Allied Universal, of which the Caisse is the largest shareholder. Questioned by the Globe and Mail on its investment in G4S, also involved at the time in a prison scandal in South Africa, its spokesperson Conrad Harrington declared that the Caisse takes any allegations relating to human rights “very seriously” and is “l “one of the most respected investors in the world when it comes to ESG criteria — which we apply rigorously and consistently.”
However, the fact that the Caisse did not divest itself of its investment in WSP, as well as all of its $13.5 billion investments in companies implicated in human rights violations in the OPT, contradicts its supposed respect for human rights.
In defending these investments, Mr. Emond told Mr. Bouazzi that the Caisse’s human rights policy is based on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. These investments are in fact contrary to Guiding Principle 13. They are also contrary to Resolution 31/36 adopted by the Human Rights Council in 2016, and in particular its paragraph 13.
Mr. Emond also sought to justify these investments by telling Mr. Bouazzi that “we are hiring […] world-class experts to ensure […] of our legal obligations, including international law.
On November 22, 2023, The duty published a letter that I co-signed with six world-class experts in international law, including three former UN Special Rapporteurs on the situation of human rights in the OPT. These experts have clearly said that investing in companies operating in Israeli settlements makes the Fund complicit in violations of international law and war crimes. They also noted that in Canada, accomplices to war crimes, including corporations, are subject to criminal prosecution under the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act.
This is why, as Mr. Bouazzi reminded Mr. Emond on April 24, these experts asked the Fund:
1. To immediately divest all investments in companies in the UN database of companies operating in illegal Israeli settlements and ensure in the future not to invest in any companies listed there ;
2. To immediately dispose of its investment in WSP;
3. To review all of its investments to ensure that none of them are associated with violations of human rights and international law; And
4. To establish a transparent process to ensure that in the future all companies in which it invests will be monitored to avoid violations of human rights and international law.
Six months later, these requests, and the Fund’s compliance, are more relevant than ever.