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Petition
Should Torontonians be told the truth when a “dream home” offered for sale at a local real estate event sits on land Canada treats as illegally occupied?
Dr. Bahira Abdulsalam. Six Canadians have asked the Competition Bureau to look at how some settlement homes are marketed in Toronto. I am asking you to sign so Mayor Chow and City Council put honesty to consumers into City venue rules, and formally ask Ottawa and the Bureau to finish the job. Read the petition | Read the proposed motion
Sign the Petition
To: Toronto City Council and the Mayor of Toronto
This petition asks City Council for honest disclosure at City venues, for consumer guidance within the City’s powers, and for formal requests to the Competition Bureau and the federal government. It is open to everyone, in Toronto, across Canada or anywhere in the world. If you live in Toronto, please include your ward.
Thank you for signing the petition!
The Petition
To: Toronto City Council and the Mayor of Toronto
Six Canadians, primarily from Palestinian and Jewish communities, have applied to the Competition Bureau for an inquiry into Israeli real estate roadshows held in Toronto and Montreal between 2024 and 2026. Represented by Global Echo Litigation Center and Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights, they say some firms present homes in West Bank settlements as being “in Israel,” and mix those listings with homes inside Israel proper, which hides legal, financial and reputational risks for Canadian buyers (New York Times, Nov 3, 2026; Emily Schaeffer Omer-Man, Global Echo).
What Canadian policy already says
On August 21, 2026, Global Affairs Canada and the Trade Commissioner Service strongly advised Canadian businesses against economic and financial activities associated with Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, citing significant legal, financial and reputational risks (Advisory to Canadian businesses). On September 8, 2026, Canada, with the United Kingdom and France, said it will bring forward national measures to ban imports of settlement goods (Leaders’ joint statement; Foreign Ministers’ joint statement).
In 2022, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency found that “Product of Israel” labels on two West Bank settlement wines, without clarifying information that they were produced in an area of the West Bank administered by Israel, were false under Canadian consumer protection statutes (CityNews; The CJN). Truth in labelling is not a new idea in this country.
What the Competition Act allows
Under section 9 of the Competition Act, any six persons resident in Canada who are at least eighteen years of age may apply to the Commissioner of Competition for an inquiry. Under section 10, the Commissioner shall cause an inquiry to be made on such an application. That is the path these six Canadians have taken. City Council cannot run that inquiry, but it can ask for it to be completed thoroughly and on time.
Disclosure, not a ban
This petition does not ask the City to ban protests or cancel real estate events. Freedom of expression and peaceful assembly matter in this city. That is why I also ask Council to repeal the bubble zone bylaw. Elsewhere, about 100 UK lawmakers called for travelling Israeli real estate events to be cancelled (New York Times). Our ask is different: honest disclosure and consumer protection when those events use City property or City booking systems.
Who has the power to act
The City sets booking terms and conditions for City parks, recreation facilities and other City venues. Event activity approvals depend on full disclosure at the time of booking. Council can add clear disclosure conditions for real estate marketing events.
Municipal Licensing and Standards enforces City bylaws. In a June 2026 report to the Economic and Community Development Committee, MLS noted that consumer protection for deceptive marketing is mainly provincial and federal, and that the City has limited regulatory authority there (MLS staff report, 2026.EC26.4). That is why ask 2 is a request for a public report on options for guidance or warnings, not a claim that MLS can rewrite federal competition law.
City contracts with companies that profit from illegal settlements are a separate fight. That work lives in our petition No City of Toronto Contracts with Companies Profiting from Illegal Israeli Settlements. This petition does not repeat those procurement asks.
We, the undersigned, call on:
- Toronto City Council to direct City staff to add disclosure and consumer protection conditions to booking terms for City-owned and City-booked venues, so that any real estate marketing event held there must accurately disclose the legal location of properties offered for sale, including whether a property is in an Israeli settlement in occupied territory, in line with Canadian law and Canada’s August 2026 advisory.
- Toronto City Council to request the Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards, in consultation with the City Solicitor, to report publicly on options for consumer guidance or warnings about real estate marketing events that may involve settlement property, within the City’s limited consumer protection authority, and on how those options would work with provincial and federal law.
- Toronto City Council to formally request that the Commissioner of Competition complete a thorough and timely inquiry into the Competition Act application concerning real estate roadshows in Toronto and Montreal that allegedly present West Bank settlement homes as being in Israel.
- Toronto City Council to formally request that the Government of Canada extend its settlement measures to the marketing and sale of settlement real estate and related services, so Canadian consumers are not left exposed while goods bans move ahead.
- Toronto City Council and the Mayor to reaffirm that honesty to consumers is a Toronto value, consistent with my October 22, 2026 statement Truth in Advertising Is a Toronto Value, and to point residents to our related petition on City contracts with companies that profit from illegal settlements.
Individual Endorsements
Total signatures received so far: 0
Signers who choose to be listed publicly will appear here once their signature is confirmed. No public endorsers are listed yet.
Organization Endorsements
Community groups, unions, faith organizations, student associations, legal clinics and advocacy organizations are invited to endorse this petition. Endorsing organizations will be listed here and included in the official submission to Toronto City Council and the Mayor of Toronto.
No organizational endorsements have been listed yet.
Thank you for endorsing!
Proposed Motion
Proposed Motion to Toronto City Council: Tell the Truth About Settlement Real Estate
Summary
This motion asks City Council to add disclosure conditions for real estate marketing events at City venues, to request an MLS report on consumer guidance options, to ask the Competition Bureau to complete its inquiry, and to ask the federal government to extend settlement measures to the marketing and sale of settlement real estate.
Proposed by: Dr. Bahira Abdulsalam, PhD, P.Eng., Founder, Be The Change Movement
To be moved by: [Councillor]
Seconded by: [Councillor]
Referral: Economic and Community Development Committee
This motion needs a member of City Council to move it and another member to second it under Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 27 (Council Procedures).
Whereas
WHEREAS six adult residents of Canada have applied to the Commissioner of Competition under section 9 of the Competition Act for an inquiry into real estate marketing roadshows held in Toronto and Montreal between 2024 and 2026 that allegedly present homes in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank as being in Israel.
WHEREAS under section 10 of the Competition Act, the Commissioner shall cause an inquiry to be made on an application under section 9.
WHEREAS on August 21, 2026, the Government of Canada strongly advised Canadian businesses against economic and financial activities associated with Israeli settlements, citing significant legal, financial and reputational risks.
WHEREAS on September 8, 2026, Canada, with the United Kingdom and France, announced it will bring forward national measures to ban imports of settlement goods.
WHEREAS in 2022, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency found that “Product of Israel” labels on two West Bank settlement wines, without clarifying information, were false under Canadian consumer protection statutes.
WHEREAS the City of Toronto sets booking terms for City-owned and City-booked venues, and those terms already require full disclosure of event activities at the time of booking.
WHEREAS Municipal Licensing and Standards has reported that consumer protection for deceptive marketing is mainly a provincial and federal responsibility, while the City retains limited local tools and a role in public guidance.
WHEREAS honesty to consumers is a Toronto value, and accurate disclosure of property location is a consumer protection issue, not a ban on speech or assembly.
Therefore, City Council recommends
- City Council direct the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation, and any other division that books City venues, in consultation with the City Solicitor, to amend booking terms and conditions for City-owned and City-booked venues so that any real estate marketing event must accurately disclose the legal location of properties offered for sale, including whether a property is in an Israeli settlement in occupied territory, and to report back on implementation within 90 days.
- City Council request the Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards, in consultation with the City Solicitor, to report to the Economic and Community Development Committee on options for consumer guidance or warnings about real estate marketing events that may involve settlement property, within the City’s authority, and on coordination with provincial and federal consumer protection law.
- City Council request the Commissioner of Competition to complete a thorough and timely inquiry into the Competition Act application concerning real estate roadshows in Toronto and Montreal that allegedly present West Bank settlement homes as being in Israel.
- City Council request the Government of Canada to extend its settlement measures to the marketing and sale of settlement real estate and related services.
- City Council reaffirm its commitment to honesty in consumer dealings, forward this decision to the Mayor, the Commissioner of Competition, the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and authorize the City Clerk to send the requests in Recommendations 3 and 4.
Notes before tabling
- The City Clerk and the City Solicitor should confirm the final wording, the right committee and the divisions responsible for venue booking before this motion is tabled.
- Recommendation 1 is a disclosure condition for City venues. It is not a ban on events, protests or speech.
- Recommendation 2 asks for a staff report because MLS has limited consumer protection authority under provincial and federal law.
- Recommendations 3 and 4 are formal requests. City Council cannot direct the Competition Bureau or the federal government.
- Nothing in this motion changes the City’s separate work on contracts with companies that profit from illegal settlements.
Read the Full Statement
On October 22, 2026, I published Truth in Advertising Is a Toronto Value. The question has not gone away. A home in a settlement should not be sold to Canadians as being “in Israel.”
I ran for Mayor of Toronto in 2026. I did not win, but the promise of honesty to consumers does not expire with an election. Gaza is an ongoing genocide, and it must end. Settlement expansion and deceptive marketing are part of the same system of occupation. Criticizing that conduct is not hatred of any people or faith.
Please sign, share, and ask your Councillor to move this motion.
Dr. Bahira Abdulsalam, PhD, P.Eng.
Founder, Be The Change Movement
Related
- Truth in Advertising Is a Toronto Value (Oct 22, 2026 statement)
- Petition: No City of Toronto Contracts with Companies Profiting from Illegal Israeli Settlements
- Petition: Repeal Toronto’s Bubble Zone Bylaw
References
- New York Times: West Bank Property Sales Tactics Face a Challenge in Canada (Ephrat Livni, Nov 3, 2026)
- Global Echo Litigation Center
- Global Echo: Emily Schaeffer Omer-Man, Founder and Executive Director
- Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights (CLAIHR)
- Competition Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-34, section 9 (six-resident application for inquiry)
- Competition Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-34, section 10 (Commissioner shall cause an inquiry)
- Government of Canada / Trade Commissioner Service: Advisory to Canadian businesses (published Aug 21, 2026)
- UK, France and Canada leaders’ joint statement on the two-state solution (Sept 8, 2026)
- France, UK, Canada and partners: Foreign Ministers’ joint statement (Sept 8, 2026)
- CityNews: Federal food agency ruling on West Bank wines labelled “Product of Israel” (May 15, 2022)
- The CJN: Canadian ruling on West Bank wine labels (2022)
- City of Toronto: General Booking Terms and Conditions (parks and recreation facilities)
- City of Toronto: MLS staff report on consumer protection (2026.EC26.4 background file)
- Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 27, Council Procedures
- Dr. Bahira Abdulsalam: Truth in Advertising Is a Toronto Value (bahira.ca, Oct 22, 2026)
- Petition: No City of Toronto Contracts with Companies Profiting from Illegal Israeli Settlements (bahira.ca)
Featured image: Toronto City Hall at Nathan Phillips Square. Photo by Bernard Spragg, Wikimedia Commons, CC0 (public domain).
Dr. Bahira Abdulsalam, PhD, P.Eng.
Founder, Be The Change Movement
bahira.ca
Volunteer with us → | (647) 785-3729 | bethechangeno1@gmail.com
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