Giller Prize parts ways with sponsor Scotiabank after more than a year of protests

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/02/2025 (611 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO – The Giller Prize has parted ways with its lead sponsor Scotiabank more than a year after members of the literary community began protesting the bank’s ties to an Israeli arms manufacturer.

The Giller Foundation, which administers Canada’s richest fiction prize, said its 20-year relationship with Scotiabank ended Monday, but organizers of the No Arms in the Arts campaign say their boycott of the literary institution will continue.

“We wish that this had happened a lot sooner,” said Noor Naga, an early signatory of a letter calling for the Giller to cut ties with Scotiabank. 

“We wish that it hadn’t taken so much out of the entire CanLit community pressuring them, and we’re waiting to see what will happen with their other sponsors.”

Protesters also take issue with Indigo and the Azrieli Foundation’s sponsorship of the Giller, said Naga, who was shortlisted for the prize in 2022 for her novel “If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English.”

Until the Giller ends those partnerships, Naga said, many authors will continue to boycott the prize.

The Giller Foundation did not address the protests in its statement about the split from Scotiabank.

“Following discussions, Scotiabank and the Giller Foundation decided that the best path forward was an end to the partnership,” executive director Elana Rabinovitch said in an email. 

She declined to comment on the cause for the change or which party initiated those discussions, but in a written statement from the foundation, she said the Giller was “indebted” to the bank.

“Their support has helped transform the Giller Prize into one of the foremost literary awards in Canada, and we look forward to building on that legacy as we move into an exciting new era,” Rabinovitch said.

The foundation said it will now “explore new opportunities and collaborations,” and Rabinovitch didn’t answer questions about the future of the prize or whether the purse would shrink.

When Scotiabank first joined ranks with the Giller Foundation, the prize was worth $25,000. Over the years, it swelled to $100,000 for the winner. 

The prize carried Scotiabank’s name from 2005 until last September, when the award reverted to its original name — a move Rabinovitch said was meant to keep the focus on “the prize and the art itself,” rather than politics.

Pro-Palestinian activists began protesting the Giller at the 2023 ceremony, and members of the literary community joined their cause within hours.

The ceremony was held in November 2023, less than a month after Israel declared war on Hamas over an attack in which the militant group kidnapped scores of Israeli hostages. Israel says 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’ initial attack.

Gaza’s health ministry says more than 46,000 Palestinians have been killed in the subsequent bombardment, many of them women and children. 

The Giller protesters jumped on stage at the 2023 ceremony, objecting to a Scotiabank subsidiary’s stake in Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems.

Several of the protesters were arrested, and a group called CanLit Responds formed to support them. It included past Giller winners such as Madeleine Thien and Omar El Akkad, as well as Sarah Bernstein, who took home the award that night.

Since then, the group launched a boycott against the Giller as part of a campaign called No Arms in the Arts and protested outside last year’s ceremony.

Charges against most of the initial protesters were withdrawn in December 2024.

In a written statement, CanLit Responds said the Giller Foundation “can’t unring that bell” of failing to act sooner.

Michael Ondaatje, Suzette Mayr and other past winners have also called for Scotiabank to divest from Elbit Systems.

A Scotiabank representative said by email the bank had no comment on its split from the Giller, aside from the foundation’s statement.

Protesters also object to the Giller’s partnerships with Indigo, for its CEO’s charity that supports Israeli Defense Force officers from abroad, as well as the Azrieli Foundation, in part for its connection to Israeli real estate company Azrieli Group, which has a stake in Bank Leumi. The United Nations Human Rights Office has included Bank Leumi on a list of businesses involved in activities relating to settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.

Both Indigo and the Azrieli Foundation are still listed as sponsors on the Giller’s website.

Naga said Rabinovitch and the Giller Foundation have not acknowledged the calls to cut ties with Indigo and the Azrieli Foundation.

That the foundation remains silent on these calls suggests it isn’t taking protesters’ concerns seriously, beyond the high-profile Scotiabank protests, she said.

“It does feel like this is a sort of move to save their reputation, rather than a sort of genuine political awakening, and that’s kind of frustrating to see,” she said. 

Avik Jain Chatlani, who pulled his debut novel “This Country Is No Longer Yours” from Giller consideration last year, said he has no plans to submit future works. 

“The Giller Foundation was made aware of this in November of 2023. We’re now in Feb of 2025 and they’ve done this very quietly, after months and months of pressure,” he said.

“It’s an insincere move.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 3, 2025.