ABOUT PCAAN

Who Are We?

The Palestinian-Canadian Academics and Artists Network (PCAAN) is a growing national and interdisciplinary network of Palestinian-Canadian academics and artists concerned with Palestine and Palestinians, including in relation to Canada and Turtle Island. Its members come from diverse intellectual and artistic traditions to support excellence in scholarship and creative work about Palestine, and to enhance understanding of Palestinian history, politics, society, and culture within Canada.

Our Core Principles

  1. We believe in academic freedom and freedom of artistic expression:
    1. in speaking truth to power and in standing against intimidation campaigns that mute Palestinian perspectives in Canada;
    2. in our right to narrate, teach, and research our history and experiences; and,
    3. our right to engage in rigorous debates and disagree with each other for political, philosophical or ethical reasons while recognizing the efficacy of diverse strategies and ideas.
  2. We place at the forefront of knowledge production, creation, cultivation, and dissemination the ideals of social justice, including anti-racist and decolonial efforts to counter racism, genocide, ethnic cleansing, apartheid, colonialism, imperialism, and settler-colonialism.
  3. We believe in the equal dignity and worth of all people and the importance of holding all states to account for policies and practices that deny people’s dignity and rights.
  4. We oppose all forms of discrimination based on race, gender, class, sexuality, religion, or ethnic identity, including anti-Black racism, anti-Indigenous racism, anti-Palestinian racism, homophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia, and antisemitism.

We Have Come Together:

  1. To support the growth of and excellence in Canadian scholarship about Palestine and Palestinians across disciplines and academic institutions in Canada;
  2. To provide Canadians a network through which they have access to Palestinian-Canadian academic and artistic voices, expertise, and opinions regarding past and current events related to Palestine.
  3. To disseminate ideas authored by Palestinian-Canadian scholars, artists and researchers to the Canadian public.
  4. To help challenge anti-Palestinian racism whenever it presents itself, especially in public and civic institutions, including arts institutions, universities, and schools;
  5. To support academics and artists who encounter discrimination in their institutions because of anti-Palestinian racism;
  6. To stand in solidarity with all anti-colonial and anti-racist struggles, especially with Indigenous struggles for Indigenous sovereignty against land expropriation and cultural appropriation and erasure.