VANCOUVER — Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) was in full crisis-management mode last week after reports that some of its members want it to boycott Israeli-made products and will table a motion to that end at its annual general meeting this week in Vancouver.
The co-operative has sourced seamless underwear and hydration systems for backpacks from Israel for the past two years.
“This all began two months ago when we first started getting e-mails from members of a group called BC Teachers for Peace and Global Education [PAGE] asking us to boycott Israel,” said David Labistour, CEO of MEC. “It was a fairly small group and didn’t seem to have much momentum, so we didn’t take it seriously. Then small groups of people started showing up outside our stores in various cities and distributing pamphlets.”
On April 8, members of PAGE met with representatives of the Vancouver-based MEC for an exchange that was “polite, not antagonistic,” Labistour said.
“We told them why and how we do things and why we would never boycott Israel. They told us their position, which was, essentially, to boycott Israel. They also told us they would propose a resolution to do so at the next annual general meeting of MEC members on Thursday, April 30.”
MEC, which calls itself “Canada’s leading supplier of quality outdoor gear, clothing and camping equipment,” has outlets in Victoria, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec and Halifax.
“We just don’t think [Mountain Equipment Co-op] should be doing business with Israel until it changes its behaviour,” Patrik Parkes, a PAGEspokesperson told Canwest News. “Many of us are MEC members, and because MEC promotes itself as an ethical company, we believe their actions need to reflect that.”
Labistour stressed that the proposed resolution is not part of an agenda driven by MEC, but rather, comes from a small minority of its three million members.
Southam estimates there are no more than 50 MECmembers who have voiced support for a boycott of Israeli products, and Labistour anticipated that a boycott resolution would be defeated.
“But even if it isn’t, it’s an ordinary resolution, which means it’s not binding,” he explained. “If the resolution passes, the nine members of the board will take it under consideration.”
There are usually between 120 and 180 MEC members present at the AGM, but Labistour predicted that the turnout for this week’s meeting, to be held at Simon Fraser University’s Segal School of Business, will be much larger.
“If people are opposed to the resolution, they should get out and vote,” he said.
Since the proposed boycott surfaced in news reports last week, MEC’s phones have been ringing incessantly, Labistour said. “It’s become huge. Because of the sensitivity of this issue, for three days I’ve done nothing but answer phone calls and e-mails.”
Tim Southam, public affairs manager for the company, said news reports have given the impression that MEC is calling for a boycott of Israeli products.
“That’s nonsensical,” he said. “We source from Israel, and we would not call for a boycott of our own products, manufactured in that country under our name. What’s disconcerting to us is that some people are under the assumption that MEC is endorsing this resolution, and that’s not the case.”
In a letter to Labistour, Avi Benlolo, president and CEO of the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies, suggested: “Much of the anti-Israel rhetoric is based on misinformation and ignorance.”
In an e-mail circulated last week, Canadian Jewish Congress encouraged Vancouverites who are members of MEC to attend the meeting and defeat any proposed motion.
“It is important to note that the Mountain Equipment Co-op is not anti-Israel or anti-Jewish,” the e-mail stated.