Eric O'Toole 🇨🇦

As a Ward 14 resident, I’d like specific answers to the questions your post leaves open. You now state that the trip’s subject matter “was relevant to my work.” But your own account at the time says: “Was it relevant to my work? I document the Canadian response to political issues, not the underlying issues themselves… so what did I need to see in Israel?” 1. At the time you accepted the invitation, did you consider reporting on Israel/Palestine itself part of your work: yes or no? 2. Did Exigent or Larry Maher design or materially determine your itinerary: yes or no? 3. Did Exigent arrange the people you met or the rooms you were given access to: yes or no? 4. Did you independently select and arrange meetings with any Palestinians: yes or no? If yes, how many and with whom? You say you went to hear “firsthand perspectives” and later describe meeting people from “vastly different backgrounds and experiences.” Yet the only firsthand perspective you actually describe in this account is that of an Israeli veteran living on a kibbutz attacked on October 7. 5. How many Palestinians did you meet during the sponsored trip? 6. Did you meet any Palestinian journalist, human-rights worker, civilian from the occupied West Bank, or Palestinian directly affected by Israeli military action: yes or no? 7. If so, why does not one Palestinian perspective appear in the account you chose to publish explaining what you learned? You also wrote that before accepting, you specifically asked whether the trip could “compromise my independence and integrity.” Your answer appears to have been that the person sponsoring the trip assured you there were no publishing or editorial requirements. 8. Beyond the sponsor’s assurance, what independent safeguard did you put in place to protect against sponsor influence over access, source selection or framing? And your own description of the advice that persuaded you to go was: “Go see what they have to show.” 9. Was this, in substance, a sponsor-curated trip in which Exigent determined a significant portion of what you were shown: yes or no? Finally, you now say it was also your first opportunity to visit your father’s birthplace. 10. Was visiting your father’s birthplace a material personal reason you accepted the sponsored trip: yes or no? Thank you.