Yves Engler

Yves Engler
Engler in 2005
Born	1979 (age 45–46) Vancouver, Canada
Occupation	Writer
Language	English
Genre	Nonfiction
Subject	Politics activism
Website
yvesengler.com

Yves Engler (born 1979) ^[1] is a Canadian writer, political activist, and critic of Canadian foreign policy based in Montreal. In addition to twelve published books, Engler's writings have appeared in alternative press and in mainstream publications such as The Globe and Mail , Toronto Star , Ottawa Citizen , and Ecologist .

On July 3, 2025, the NDP Socialist Caucus announced it was running Engler as its candidate in the 2026 federal NDP leadership election. ^[2]

Life and career

Engler moved to Montreal to study at Concordia University in the early 2000s, where he was elected vice president of communications with the Concordia Student Union. ^[3] He was suspended from the university due to his involvement in the Concordia University Netanyahu riot, which erupted in response to a visit to the campus by then-former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. ^{[4] [5]}

A student tribunal found Engler guilty of assault and vandalism for his part in the event. He was fined $500 and expelled for one term. Engler said he did not assault anyone or commit any vandalism during the riot. ^[4] His attempt to appeal the suspension was rejected by the Supreme Court of Canada. ^[6] Engler's suspension was later made permanent when he violated a ban on political activity, imposed by the university in the aftermath of the riot, by handing out anti-FTAA pamphlets on university grounds. ^[5]

Views

Rwanda

In 2017, Engler wrote an article in which he dismissed generally accepted narratives surrounding the Rwandan genocide as oversimplified and claimed the death toll of Tutsis murdered in the mass killings had been inflated. ^[7] Some critics have described his position as genocide denial. ^[8]

Haiti

Engler presenting Pierre Pettigrew with a copy of the "Griffin Report on Human Rights Abuses in Haiti"

Engler was critical of Canada's role in the 2004 Haitian coup d'état. He co-authored a report entitled Canada in Haiti: Waging War Against the Poor Majority and helped establish a group called the Canada-Haiti Action Network.^{[ citation needed ]}

In June 2005, Engler interrupted a press conference being held by then-Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Pierre Pettigrew. Engler poured a bottle of cranberry juice onto Pettigrew and said, "Pettigrew lies, Haitians die." ^[9] The juice was meant to represent the blood Engler said was on the hands of the Canadian government due to its alleged involvement in the 2004 coup and subsequent United Nations peacekeeping mission. ^{[10] [11]}

Israel

A vocal critic of Israel, in 2010, Engler wrote the book Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid on the history of Canada's ties with Israel. ^[12] He is a longtime supporter of the international campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. ^[13]

In 2016, Engler wrote an essay for the Huffington Post, titled "'Anti Semitism': The Most Abused Word in Canada". ^[14] A week later, Canadian Jewish News editor Yoni Goldstein criticized the text in an opinion piece. He concluded that Engler "has seriously misjudged the state of anti-Semitism in Canada today". ^[15] Engler said that the charge of antisemitism is wrongly used to shut down criticism of Israel, but the rise of neo-Nazism shows that it was wrong for him to downplay the threat of antisemitism, which he strongly condemns. ^[16]

Published works

• Canada in Haiti: Waging War on the Poor Majority with Anthony Fenton. Co-published by RED Publishing and Fernwood Publishing, August 2005. ISBN   1-55266-168-7 ^[17]
• Playing Left Wing: From Rink Rat to Student Radical (RED/Fernwood Publishing, 2005) ^[18]
• The Black Book of Canadian Foreign Policy. Co-published by RED Publishing and Fernwood Publishing, April 2009. ISBN   978-1-55266-314-1 ^[19]
• Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid. Co-published by RED Publishing and Fernwood Publishing, February 2010. ISBN   978-1-55266-355-4 ^[20]
• Stop Signs: Cars and Capitalism on the Road to Economic, Social and Ecological Decay with Bianca Mugyenyi, Published April 2011; ISBN   978-1-55266-384-4
• Lester Pearson's Peacekeeping The Truth May Hurt. ISBN   978-1-55266-510-7 Fernwood Publishing (September 1, 2012)
• The Ugly Canadian: Stephen Harper's Foreign Policy. Co-published with: Red Publishing ISBN   978-1-55266-530-5 (Published: 2012)
• Canada in Africa: 300 years of aid and exploitation. Co-published by RED Publishing and Fernwood Publishing, August 2015. ISBN   978-1-55266-762-0
• A Propaganda System — How Government, Corporations, Media and Academia Sell War and Exploitation, Fall 2016.
• Left, Right: Marching to the Beat of Imperial Canada. Black Rose Books, 2019. ISBN   978-1-55164-663-3
• House of Mirrors: Justin Trudeau's Foreign Policy. RED Publishing/Black Rose Books, 2020
• Stand on Guard for Whom? — A People's History of the Canadian Military, October 2021

References

1. "The Black Cook of Canadian Foreign Policy / by Yves Engler". gouv.qc.ca. Retrieved July 9, 2025.
2. "NDP Socialist Caucus Nominates Montreal Author and Activist Yves Engler for NDP Leader".
3. "Yves Engler". fernwoodpublishing.can. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
4. Spivak, Rhonda (n.d.). "Yves Engler at U of M explains his suspension from Concordia University after Netanyahu's aborted speech in 2002". Winnipeg Jewish Review. Retrieved June 15, 2021.
5. "Concordia Activist Faces Expulsion". October 9, 2008.
6. Blackwell, Richard (October 7, 2005). "Activist loses fight to re-enter Concordia". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved September 22, 2019.
7. "Statistics, damn lies and the truth about Rwanda genocide". September 22, 2017. Retrieved September 7, 2025.
8. "B'nai Brith Canada, Rwandan-Canadian Organizations Jointly Condemn Appalling Genocide Denial". bnaibrith.ca. July 23, 2025. Retrieved July 30, 2025.
9. "Canada acting badly in Haiti, protester claims". CBC News. June 18, 2005. Retrieved August 7, 2009.
10. "Pettigrew's Painter speaks about Haitian Blood on the hands of the Canadian Government". June 17, 2005. Retrieved August 7, 2009.
11. Thomas M. Griffin, ESQ. (November 11–21, 2004). "Griffin Report - Haiti Human Rights Investigation" (PDF). Center for the Study of Human Rights, University of Miami School of Law. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 20, 2009.
12. "Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid". fernwoodpublishing.ca. Retrieved November 9, 2023.
13. "Tadamon!: 500 Artists Against Israeli Apartheid".
14. ""Anti Semitism": The Most Abused Word in Canada | Dissident Voice". April 16, 2016.
15. Goldstein, Yoni (April 27, 2016). "Getting the facts wrong about anti-Semitism in Canada". Canadian Jewish News. Retrieved September 22, 2019.
16. "Controversies – Yves Engler". September 12, 2020.
17. "Canada in Haiti". Fernwood Publishing. Retrieved November 19, 2009.
18. "Playing Left Wing". Fernwood Publishing. Retrieved November 19, 2009.
19. "The Black Book of Canadian Foreign Policy". Fernwood Publishing. Retrieved November 19, 2009.
20. "Canada and Israel". Fernwood Publishing. Retrieved May 24, 2010.

External links

• Official website
• Collection of Engler's Z net writings

Video links

• Canada vs Latin American Democracy a 6-part series - Part 1 of 6: "From Jacobins to Salvador Allende, Hugo Chavez and Jean Bertrand Aristide". Introduction by The Globe and Mail columnist Rick Salutin.
• "The Ugly Canadian" - Numerous interviews on Stephen Harper and Canadian foreign policy on The Real News network.