By Barbara Paleczny, SSND
A few hundred Palestinians, Indigenous, Lebanese, Yemeni and other Canadians gathered at St. John’s Anglican Church Hall in Kitchener Oct. 4, 2025, for an Empty Plate Dinner.
It was a fundraiser for the people in Gaza. There were two small bowls of Palestinian olives and water on each table. In solidarity, we had no other food.
A vigil in the park the next day ended our 24-hour fast. Indigenous smudged and all drummed and danced. Together we grieved. At least 300,000 buried under the rubble in Gaza are not officially counted.
I loved being welcomed so warmly for the deeply moving accounts and poems; many sang and danced their cultural steps.
I brought my own experience to the vigil.
I had seen Palestinians’ buildings being ploughed down for new Israeli apartments for sponsored immigrants from USA and Russia back in 2014. I had seen harassment both in Bethlehem and the West Bank.
We walk together, in grief.
