Scotiabank is currently a sponsor of the Hot Docs Film Festival, the Giller Prize, the Toronto Biennial of Art, and the Scotiabank Photography Award. It is also the largest foreign investor in Elbit Systems. Elbit is "Israel's" largest military and arms company, providing 85% of Israel's land-based military equipment and 85% of its drones. It provides surveillance and border control systems to the occupation. It provides munitions to "Israel" - $144 million worth in 2020 alone - and has historically been linked to internationally-banned cluster bombs and white phosphorous.
The No Arms In The Arts campaign is led by a coalition of groups- including Writers Against The War On Gaza - Toronto, Film Workers For Palestine, Artists Against Artwashing and Canlit Responds - that reject arts funding tied to the ongoing displacement and death of Palestinians. Scotiabank is not the campaign's only target, but has been a primary one for cultural workers leveraging their art and labour against the imperial war machine.
In November 2023, there was an on-air disruption of the Scotiabank-sponsored Giller Prize pointing out its ties to Elbit. The Gillers responded by pressuring police to pursue criminal charges against the protestors, and attempting to silence authors who spoke out in solidarity. The Gillers also sports partnerships with Indigo Books and the Azrieli Foundation - a corporation and a non-profit with deep ties arms funding, settlements and Zionist organizations.
In late April 2024, the No Arms In The Arts Festival was held - 11 days of counterprogramming to the Scotiabank-funded Hot Docs. The programming consisted of vigils, direct actions, screenings and panels intended to create a space for Palestinian solidarity in a notoriously censorious industry. Additionally, a surge of filmmakers took to official Hot Docs stages to denounce Scotiabank night after night, calling for an Elbit divestment. A land in the sand was drawn: arts festivals can no longer be used to discreetly launder their funders' blood money.
Pressure on Scotiabank is working. In Spring 2024, it was announced that Scotiabank's 1832 Asset Management halved its stake in Elbit - dropping from 5.1 percent to 2.5 percent, representing a divestment of nearly $250 million. This drop followed months of actions and agitation, after being an investment that had been mostly untouched for nearly decade prior. But we aren't settling for half-measures. We're winning the moral and material battle, and we're coming for the whole thing.
PRESS KIT:
SELECTED PRESS:
- How the Giller Prize Became Associated with Genocide
- What’s Next for Hot Docs?
- Canadian Arts Funder Faces Pressure to Divest From Israeli Weapons Supplier
- Canadian writers ask Giller prize to drop charges against pro-Palestinian protesters
- Exhibitors back out of Contact Photography Festival due to Scotiabank controversy
- Authors pull books from Giller Prize consideration over sponsors’ ties to Israeli interests