Scotiabank’s investment in Elbit Systems has put the prestigious Giller Prize at the centre of artwashing controversy again

By Daniyah Yaqoob

Every year, the Giller Prize recognizes Canadian authors’ work in the literary field — and awards a cash prize to their winner. But recently, concerns about Giller’s main prize sponsor, Scotiabank, and its investment in an Israeli arms manufacturer, are causing some authors to distance themselves from the once-esteemed award.

Since it was founded in 1994, the Giller Prize says it has given out three-quarters of a million dollars, referring to itself as Canada’s “richest literary award for fiction.”

When the foundation struck a deal with Scotiabank in 2005, the monetary award for winners and finalists increased substantially — and the award changed its name to the “Scotiabank Giller Prize” to reflect the bank’s heavy investment.

However, following the start of Israel’s renewed siege on Gaza in October 2023, pro-Palestine activists have raised questions about Scotiabank’s investments in Israel’s Elbit Systems. Though Canada’s six largest banking systems all have some sort of stake in Elbit Systems, Scotiabank’s is “more than 60 times bigger than its nearest Canadian rival.”

Last year, protestors interrupted the Giller Prize award ceremony with signs reading “Scotiabank funds genocide.” They were promptly escorted out and later, some were arrested.

This year again, a more organized effort from CanLit Responds called for a boycott of the Giller Prize ceremony. 

The year in between both Giller Prize ceremonies was full of writers pushing back. More than one thousand authors came together to sign an open letter, calling for all charges to be dropped against protestors. Over the summer, dozens of Canadian authors from CanLit Responds pulled their books from consideration for this year’s Giller Prize, over its ties with companies funding Israel’s occupation of Palestine.

“[The ties] matter to me because I’m a human being who cares about social justice,” said Farzana Doctor, a Canadian author who withdrew her book from Giller Prize consideration this year.

She said once she learned that Giller’s main sponsor has heavy investments in Elbit Systems, she knew she had to disassociate from the award.

“I couldn’t be having my work associated, even in a small way, with an arms manufacturer.”

Doctor said awards like the Giller Prize come with validation, monetary benefits and they also draw attention to authors and their works. But supporting the campaign is more important to her, as it “calls attention to the ways that Giller and Scotiabank are connected to the genocide in Palestine,” she said.

Amidst a public relations crisis for the Giller, many international headlines saw the prize come up in the same sentence as the word genocide because of its ties to Scotiabank.

The Giller Foundation announced in early September that it would drop the bank’s name from its title — but Scotiabank would continue in its role as the prize’s main sponsor.

In a statement to CanCulture Magazine, Elana Rabinovitch, executive director of The Giller Foundation, said the prize “listened to authors’ concerns around our sponsorship with Scotiabank.”

“The decision to remove their name from the prize was made in order to focus attention where it properly belongs; on the authors, their books and Canadian literature in general,” she wrote.

But the authors who withdrew their books from the Giller Prize demanded much more — that the foundation use its leverage to pressure Scotiabank into fully divesting from Elbit Systems and to cut ties with all funders invested in Israel’s occupation of Palestine. In addition to Scotiabank, CanLit Responds names the Azrieli Foundation, Indigo and Audible as affiliates to cut off from.

“I would like them to put pressure on their number one sponsor, Scotiabank. I would like them to be open about having some influence in that way,” Doctor said.

Since last year, Scotiabank has been accused of ‘artswashing.’ The term, coined in 2017, is the process of using art to gloss over the negative involvement of governments or companies in things such as dispossession, human rights abuses and genocide.

Scotiabank is involved in many culture and arts projects across the country — in the world of literature through the Giller Prize, the world of film through Hot Docs, the world of photography through the CONTACT photography festival and the world of visual arts through The Toronto Biennial of Art. 

But after Israel revamped its attacks on Gaza, artists of all disciplines in Canada have banded together to form a movement called No Arms in the Arts, to “reject arts funding tied to the ongoing displacement and death of Palestinians.”

Doctor said her own opposition to Scotiabank as an investor in Elbit Systems and main sponsor for Giller partly comes from her understanding of the role literature plays in society.

“I think my writing has always been political, and I believe that it’s our job as writers and artists to be part of shifting the status quo,” she said.

For Doctor, just as much as writing and literature can be a place for creative expression, it is also a tool for leveraging justice.

“I think that there are many communities within the larger writing community and many communities within the larger reading community,” she said.

“I think that people who have a political consciousness within these communities if we are bearing witness to this genocide, we must take some kind of a stand in whatever way we’re able.”

For readers, Doctor said it is about using their purchasing power as an audience to influence the literature sector. When it comes to writers, it’s about using “the leverage of our labour” to get organizations to change.

Protestors did not physically interrupt this year’s Giller Prize ceremony on Nov. 18 — it was also not televised live, as it usually is. Instead, boycotting authors organized a counter-gala outside of the Giller Prize event venue, where authors read their works related to Palestine and called for organized artist movements to mobilize for Palestine.

Authors like Doctor said they would not return to the awards until the Giller truly listened to the demands of the CanLit community.

“If Scotiabank was not going to fully divest from Elbit Systems, I think the Giller would be a better prize if they would just say, ‘okay, we are not going to accept Scotiabank money,’” she said.

In Aug. 2024, Scotiabank cut part of its divestment in Elbit Systems, as it continued to face widespread calls to divest. Doctor called this an optimistic note for writers and organizers. 

“There’s good evidence to believe it’s because of this bad publicity and the ways that artists and writers have challenged the way that Scotiabank art washes investments through arts funding,” she said.

While the Giller Prize will go on to celebrate Canadian authors this year, without Scotiabank tied to its name, it remains tied to their wallet and authors like Doctor said people will continue to mobilize for Palestine until their demands are fully heard.

“I really believe in collective action.”