"They sell their weapons to Israel, or to the Philippine government, to other governments that are carrying out genocide." 

"They fuel dictatorships, and every deal made here at CANSEC is a death sentence to a colonized person, to working people all around the world."

"This is their playground. This is their marketplace."

Rosie Lucente, spokesperson, Shut Down CANSEC campaign

 

"We take care of patients, we think about community well-being, we think about healing."

"What's happening behind us at this conference, CANSEC, is the buying and selling of weapons and technologies that fuel an industry of war, terror, and genocide."

Yipeng Ge, family doctor, Ottawa Healthcare Professionals for Palestine 

Anti CANSEC demonstrators tangle with police. The demonstrators were organized by Shut Down CANSEC,demonstrated against Canada’s largest weapons show held in Ottawa, May 28, 2026. Photo by JEAN LEVAC /POSTMEDIA

 

Held on Wednesday and Thursday of this week at the Cohere convention centre in south-end Ottawa, hosted by the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI), this year's CANSEC arms trade show turned out to be the largest of its kind of the annual event yet held, bringing together those involved in the arms industry and those who are interested in their wares. 

 

There were about 20,000 registered delegates,  with 320 exhibitors and 100 delegations from 60 countries. In contrast, 2025 saw 285 exhibitors, and 2024, 265 companies displaying equipment and military systems. The trade show attendance is limited to the industry, military and government staff.

 

Also in evidence were some 200 demonstrators protesting the trade show, who gathered in front of the centre by 7:00 a.m. blowing whistles, banging drums and jeering at CANSEC attendees entering the conference. Minor tussles broke out between police and protesters when an attempt was made to block a crosswalk.

 

Banners held by protesters included one with the names of children purportedly killed in Gaza. Large images of Prime Minister Mark Carney, Minister of Foreign Affairs Anita Anand and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were carried by other demonstrators.  

 

Anti CANSEC demonstrators were organized by Shut Down CANSEC,demonstrated against Canada’s largest weapons show held in Ottawa, May 28, 2026. Photo by JEAN LEVAC /POSTMEDIA

 

There are brutal wars being carried out in many parts of the world, from Sudan to Yemen, Syria to Libya involving 45 armed conflicts taking place in the Middle East and North Africa. These are Muslim countries in their tribal, sectarian wars, killing, maiming, raping, displacing populations, creating humanitarian crises with malnourished children forced to live in tent encampments. The protesters have no interest whatever in the plight of the hundreds of thousands of people being killed, the millions displaced from their homes, the children dying. Their focus is entirely on Israel.

 

 

One tiny nation forced by ongoing attacks by terrorist groups backed by the very protesters who decry Israel's military, fighting the genocidal Muslim terror groups that target Israeli civilians and the Jewish state for total annihilation. That is genocide, yet these hate-indoctrinated minds whose brains have been completely addled by antisemitism inherent in their upbringing and convictions, relish slandering Israel for genocide against Palestinians, the very source of terrorist-central. 

 

Their rage against the manufacturers and purveyors of military equipment is entirely predicated on their certainty that all those arms are destined for the Israeli military. The only military with which these locked minds find fault with, for responding to lethal attacks geared to destroying their nation, with the due force required to put a stop to the never-ending acts of war it suffers from its neighbours. Although groups like Hamas and Hezbollah are on Canada's terror list, the pro-Palestinian protesters defend their deadly violence as acting from a just cause. 

 

Anti CANSEC demonstrators tangle with police. The demonstrators were organized by Shut Down CANSEC,demonstrated against Canada’s largest weapons show held in Ottawa, May 28, 2026. Photo by JEAN LEVAC /POSTMEDIA

 

The Liberal government's decision to respond to NATO's injunction requiring all its members to step up their defence spending by doing just that, represents the impetus of weapons manufacturers' anticipatory presence at a massive show where their offerings can be influentially showcased for future sales to a country that has authorized massive expenditures in military gear. In lock-step with Europe, North America realizes the threat to democracy and national security represented by Russia's President Vladimir Putin in his ambitions to enlarge the geographic reach of Greater Russia, emulating the late lamented USSR.

 

All countries of the world are aware of the need to 'walk softly and carry a big stick'. To own and stockpile weaponry that will assist their militaries in defending their nations against hostile nations' aspirations to territorial expansion. It represents the single most important, and mostly unused counterthreat to invasion by foreign forces that all nations are obligated by history to respect and prepare for. In Israel's case, it has never known peace with its neighbours, and not because the Jewish state did not yearn for that peace, but because since its re-appearance in 1948, neighbouring states threatened its presence and wrought wars they always lost.

 

Now that those neighbours, for the most part, have finally accepted the fact that Israel lives and will always live on its ancestral geography, some among them prepared to live in peace and trust, it has been left to the fundamentalist totalitarian ideologues of Islamist diehards dedicated to jihad to continue to violently harass, threaten and attack the Jewish state. Forcing that Jewish state to retaliate and to destroy those continued threats against its sovereign rights and its peoples' safety. The 'pro-Palestinian' Jew-haters decipher reality and historical accuracy in their warped minds to suit the venom of their hatred. 

 

Anti CANSEC demonstrators were organized by Shut Down CANSEC,demonstrated against Canada’s largest weapons show held in Ottawa, May 28, 2026. Photo by JEAN LEVAC /POSTMEDIA

 

"Leaving Wokeness and Weakness Behind"

"In accordance with policy now reinstated, service members who have a current diagnosis or history of or exhibit symptoms consistent with gender dysphoria may elect to separate voluntarily. [If they chose not to do so by the deadline, they would be removed] involuntarily, if necessary."

"This is the president's agenda. This is what the American people voted for."

"TRANS is out at the DOD."

"No more pronouns, no more climate-change obsessions, no more emergency vaccine mandates, no more dudes in dresses." 

"We are leaving WOKENESS AND WEAKNESS behind. No more pronouns. We are done with that sh*t."

U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth

 

"There’s no guarantee to access to your pension or severance or an honorable discharge, [for trans service members who do not take the current buyout offer and could lose out on benefits that took years of service to build]."

"This is not voluntary. This is a decision that folks are coming to under duress."

"These are 1,000 transgender troops that would be serving if the conditions were not created to force them into making a decision for their own well-being, or the well-being of their family long-term."

Rae Timberlake, spokesperson for Sparta Pride

Transgender troops have between 30 and 60 days to self-separate from the military after a court order allowed the ban on their service to move forward, according to a Thursday memo from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

The Defence Secretary's directive is expected to bring the careers of thousands of American military service members to an abrupt conclusion. Some 1,000 troops have self-identified as having been given a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, according to the Pentagon, in response to Hegseth's memo directed to senior military leaders. The number is debatable, considered to be quite a bit higher by advocates for transgender service members.

 

From the guidelines issued on Thursday it was not immediately evident how the Pentagon will proceed in an effort to remove any transgender troops who have failed to disclose such a personal diagnosis. A month has been given to transgender personnel serving on active duty to voluntarily leave the service. Reservists have been given 60 days for their voluntary withdrawal. All of them may be eligible for separation pay, but once the deadlines pass the Pentagon will transition to involuntarily separate those who remain.

 

The announcement came two days following a divided ruling in Shilling v. Trump by the U.S. Supreme Court, allowing President Donald Trump to move on with an executive order to bar transgender men and women from the military while a lower court entertains litigation over the underlying policy. In hearings for a separate legal challenge, the Justice Department argued that the policy was not discriminatory since it did not apply to all transgender service members, but those only who suffer or have suffered from gender dysphoria.

 

"The haste with which the military is moving reflects a callous disregard for the brave troops who have put their lives on the line for this country. It is a disgrace", stated Jennifer Levi, the lead attorney in Talbott v. Trump with its 32 trans plaintiffs. Over 4,000 transgender men and women diagnosed with gender dysphoria were first permitted to serve openly beginning in 2016. The Trump executive order grants exceptions for those service members directly supporting "warfighting capabilities".

 

Those who succeed in obtaining a waiver must prove they never attempted to physically transition from one gender to the other. Certain restrictions prohibiting them from changing rooms, bathrooms and showers designated for people of the opposite sex will apply to them. They will also be required to meet fitness standards associated with their sex at birth. 

 

Pentagon officials defended the ban, stating: "The medical, surgical, and mental health constraints on individuals who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria are incompatible with the high mental and physical standards necessary for military service." Psychotherapy, gender-affirming hormone therapy, gender-affirming surgery and other treatment for service members totalled $52 million between 2015 and 2024, according to a defense official speaking on condition of anonymity. 

"Additionally, the Military Departments will immediately begin processing for separation Service members who previously self-identified for voluntary separation prior to March 26, 2025."

"Service by individuals with a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibiting symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria is not in the best interest of the Military Services and is not clearly consistent with the interests of national security."

U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth

A transgender woman speaks as military veterans and their supporters protested against President Donald Trump's policies in March. (Jeremy Hogan/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)