The World Destination Program of the LCBO arranged to include five Nadim wines by Taybeh, and five varieties of Taybeh beer earlier this year. The product arrived in Canada, and was ready for release in early August when notification came that the product was being put on hold.
Earlier this month, just as shipments were ready to go to local LCBO stores for private order pick up, as well as to be put onto the e-commerce channel for offering through the LCBO World Destination Program, the LCBO informed Palestine Just Trade that “due to the recent decision by the Federal Court regarding labeling requirements for wines from this region, we have placed these products on hold.”
Today, August 28, 2019, Dimitri Lascaris, legal counsel for Palestine Just Trade sent a letter to the President of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and copied the LCBO on it. You can read the letter HERE. An accompanying list of alcohol products listed for sale in Canada with the label “product of Israel” that are known to be from Israeli settlements considered illegal by international law can be seen HERE.
In our letter today we indicated to the CFIA with copy to the LCBO that “we are at a loss to understand how the CFIA can continue to allow the sale of wines from territory occupied by Israel to be sold in Canada with false Product of Israel labels even as the LCBO prevents the sale of Taybeh products which are accurately labelled.” We indicated that “the manner in which the CFIA and LCBO are dealing with accurately labelled Taybeh products, and falsely labelled products from Israeli settlements in occupied territory is plainly discriminatory.”
Palestine Just Trade is excited to have joined with Taybeh to have made the first import of product to Canada, and look forward to Nadim wines by Taybeh and Taybeh beers being available for purchase for the first time in Canada very shortly.
