By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
The family of Trent Hills Mayor Bob Crate is waiting to hear news of his 24-year-old granddaughter Sadie, who was on a nine-boat flotilla trying to break Israel’s naval blockade and bring aid to Gaza, and who became one of six Canadians captured by Israel Wednesday.
Born and raised in Trent Hills, Sadie had been living in Newfoundland and finishing up work on her master’s degree at Memorial University. She learned shortly after she left on the mission that her final paper had been approved and the degree granted.
Her mother Kira Mees knew she had raised an activist, and is very proud of Sadie.
A CBC report showed Sadie’s picture as one of three activists from Newfoundland “among those detained by Israeli forces on Wednesday, as they sailed toward Gaza in an attempt to break Israel’s naval blockade and deliver aid to the region.”
Their account has the vessel boarded by Israeli forces around 3:30 a.m. Newfoundland time when it was about 220 km. from shore. Mees learned of it at about 1 a.m. her time on a group chat, getting news that Sadie’s boat (the Conscience) with about 100 people on board had been intercepted and was being towed to shore.
“It’s a horrible feeling as a parent to know that your kid is going to be imprisoned,” Mees said in an interview with Today’s Northumberland.
“We knew that this was a possibility, but it’s hard.”
Until yesterday, there had been daily contact with Sadie, reassuring to her because it was such a risky endeavour to get aid to Gaza.
“That was their mission, and they were very hopeful. In the last flotilla, one boat did make it close, and they were hopeful for their boat specifically because it was filled with medical professionals and journalists – professions the Israeli government has been targeting and that really are desperately needed.”
They were in good spirits, Mees said,
“Part of it was bringing aid, but the other part is bringing attention to Gaza. People talk about it being two years (since the war began), but it’s really been decades where there has been the systematic denial of basic necessities to the citizens of Gaza.
“She was hopeful and determined to get that aid through, and it’s a shame that wasn’t possible.”
Mees said that the Conscience carried $125,000 to $130,000 worth of aid – “things for burns and antibiotics and basic treatments that they can do, because the majority of the hospitals have been destroyed.”
She refuses to use the term “arrest” in connection with the incident, as the Conscience was in international waters – “abduction” is her term of choice.
“What they (Israel) were doing was illegal. They were in international waters. Israel has no jurisdiction,” she insisted.
“They were bringing humanitarian aid, and it’s shameful, really, that citizens are having to fill a gap where governments are failing.”
Mees was able to find a livestream of the arrest, “which I wouldn’t recommend to any other mother to see, but we saw their boat being boarded.”
She also shared still photographs from her daughter on her way over, the high spirits and hopefulness of the crew evident in the shots. The last picture she sent of herself before the arrest shows a serene and smiling young lady against a deep-blue sunset sky.
Mees also has a still photo of her daughter and crewmates being arrested, Sadie having donned her glasses, staring straight ahead solemnly.
The appeal has gone out to Foreign Affairs for help for them.
“We are hopeful there will be consular support to them today. And we also learned consular support isn’t allowed telephones, so we won’t know until they complete their work and leave that they may be able to report back,” she said.
Sadie left Sept. 7 for Italy, where she was scheduled to be on a smaller vessel that was going to be crewed entirely by women.
“Sadie is an experienced sailor. She grew up sailing with us, and so we was really excited about that.”
Issues that arose on the ship’s final inspection put it out of the running, so Sadie joined the crew of the Conscience, a recommissioned ferry primarily full of medical professionals and journalists.
She knew the risks, her mother insists, but she was also a determined young woman.
“This cause means so much to her, and she has so many friends who are Palestinian, and she’s just been so dedicated, spending a lot of time learning all of the nuance about the complexity – and also the complexity the Canadian government has been continuing to support arms.
“We need a two-way arms embargo so we can stop receiving weapons that have been battle-tested – that’s disgusting – and we shouldn’t be sending parts so that we can be complicit in the violence that is happening there.”
“It’s terrible. It’s terrible. I have to steel myself for three or four more days of probably not actually knowing. But I implore the Canadian government to do what they need to do to protect their citizens,” she urged.
“Sadie and five Canadian passport holders were picked up on that boat yesterday, and they need the support and they need to come safely home. And at the same time, we all need to keep our eyes on Gaza, to keep the folks that are there now safe. We need to keep up the work that Sadie and all these incredible dedicated volunteers have been doing,” she urged.
“The basic necessities of life are being denied, and have been continually denied for years and years and years. And if the government isn’t going to step in, we as fellow citizens have to have compassion and do what we can.”
The war that began two years ago is the result of complex issues, Mees said.
“You have an oppressed group, the Palestinians, who for years have lived under oppression. What they are doing is getting labelled as terrorism, but it’s resistance to occupation. And none of it is right – bombing hospitals, killing children and systematically targeting civilian infrastructure, denying an entire population of drinking water.”
“It’s not right and it’s not the kind of world that we want to live in. And it’s not the kind of geopolitical policies that anyone should be propping up and supporting.”
“I understand that it’s difficult, and there are generations and generations of history involved in that plot of land. But today is the time to change that.”
Though this is not an easy task, she continued, “what is easy is letting a boat of medical aid and baby formula through. That’s pretty straightforward.
“If you are not being an aggressive oppressor, what’s wrong with baby formula?”
Looking ahead, she describes her waiting as “just counting down seconds.
“We last spoke yesterday. She kind of gave us the heads-up that they were getting close and there was going to be a rough week.”
The chat group has become activated, spreading the news and lobbying the government on their behalf.
“It would be great to have boots on the ground and people talking to her. I also acknowledge there’s a time change – they’re eight hours ahead. It’s tomorrow there.
“This is part of the inhumane treatment,” she said.
“They will allow you a quick get-out-of-jail-free card if you sign a paper that says you illegally entered Israel, but they didn’t – so they won’t.
“This is about breaking seeds, and it’s unfortunate that volunteers are the ones that are doing it – doctors and nurses and journalists and activists and students should not be the ones who are doing the work on the ground to help the people of Gaza.”
Asked if she was proud of her daughter, Mees declared, “absolutely.”
Asked what she would say to Sadie if she had the chance, she said, “Get home.”
The six Canadians were able to release a quickie video, identifying themselves and saying, “If you are seeing this video we have been attacked and abducted by the Israeli forces or forces of another country complicit in the genocide of the Palestinian people.”
They ended by urging people to contact the Canadian government with appeals to help secure their release.
Northumberland-Peterborough South MP Philip Lawrence has issued a statement: “We have notified Consulate officials and have done everything we can to bring about her safe return. Regardless of the politics, we will do everything we can to have a daughter reunited with her mother.”
CBC also reports a posting on X by Israel’s foreign ministry saying that everyone detained is safe and will soon be deported as well as a quote from Federal Fisheries Minster Joanne Thompson.
“Our government is working tirelessly for their safe, quick release and access to consular services,” Thompson stated.
“Israel had absolutely no right legally to intercept these vessels or abduct any of these civilians. It was a purely humanitarian non-violent mission, and that was made explicitly clear.”
