The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) is the target of a United Nations report that accuses it of participating in the “genocide economy” in Gaza.
CDPQ invested $9.6 billion in companies profiting from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, alleges the United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese. She made that claim in a report entitled From the Economy of Occupation to the Economy of Genocide, released Thursday.
Albanese accused 48 companies of financially profiting from the conflict, by supplying military equipment or purchasing Israeli government bonds.
“We must stop all this,” Albanese said in French during a press conference. “The profits these companies are making are a measure of their involvement in this genocide.” It’s an economy that supports Israel. Instead of sanctioning it, we’re actually supporting it.”
She recommends an embargo on arms sales to Israel. “It’s time for companies to cut ties with Israel,” Albanese said in an English response. “Engaging in something that generates economic gain and profit is problematic.”
The report singles out CDPQ, “despite its responsible investment and human rights policies.”
The report cites its investment in Lockheed Martin as an example, which tripled from 2023 to 2024. The report accuses the American company of profiting from the sale of its military aircraft to Israel.
“After October 2023, the F-35 and F-16 played a vital role in providing Israel with unprecedented air power, enabling it to drop approximately 85,000 tons of bombs, most of them unguided, killing and injuring more than 179,411 Palestinians and devastating Gaza.”
Lockheed Martin states on its website that it is “proud of the central role it has played in ensuring the security of the State of Israel.”
In a written statement, CDPQ said it “firmly rejects allegations that it may facilitate or encourage international crimes through its investments.”
The pension giant continued: “Some allegations and facts must be corrected. First, the majority of investments in the companies mentioned are not managed directly by the Caisse. They are managed by intermediaries or held through standard products offered to all investors. Second, the Caisse holds a tiny fraction of shares in these companies, which limits its ability to directly influence them.”
“Finally, the Caisse wishes to reiterate that it has also ceased all new investments in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
In May, CDPQ president and CEO Charles Emond told a parliamentary committee that the situation was not “black and white” when investing in the defence sector.
“In the case of Lockheed Martin, we could also point out that it’s the same company that manufactures equipment supplied by other governments, American or otherwise, at the NATO level, to defend Ukraine, in particular,” he said.
A call to divest
The report is “very important” because it illustrates how the economic system profited from the Israeli military intervention, Raymond Legault, spokesperson for the Quebec Coalition for Palestine Relief, said in an interview.
He is calling on CDPQ to divest itself of its investments in companies that profit from “this genocidal situation.”
“We can’t look the other way and say that, ultimately, our investments in these companies have no connection with the crimes being committed,” Legault said.
CDPQ’s exposure could be even greater than the $9.6 billion identified in the UN report, Legault argued. Albanese acknowledged that the list of targeted companies in her report was not exhaustive.
The Quebec Coalition for Palestine Relief estimates that CDPQ has invested nearly $27.4 billion in companies that profit from Israel’s military actions.
At a time when increasing military spending is a priority for the Carney government, Legault is concerned about defence companies, which do business with the Israeli government, profiting from it.
“There is no indication from our governments, neither the Canadian government nor the Quebec government, of a real desire to dissociate themselves from their unwavering support for Israel to date.”
This story was translated from the original French.