A major Canadian literary award has dropped the name of its sponsor, Scotiabank, from its title following months of protests over the bank’s investments in an Israeli weapons manufacturer.
The Giller prize – formerly known as the Scotiabank Giller prize – will keep the bank as its main sponsor despite the rebrand.
A Scotiabank asset management subsidiary has shares in Elbit Systems, which supplies military equipment including artillery, munitions and electronic warfare systems to Israel’s defence ministry. A drone developed by the company, Hermes 450, was reportedly used to carry out missile strikes that killed seven aid workers in central Gaza on last April.
“The decision to remove [Scotiabank’s] name was made so that the focus would be on these exceptional authors and their achievements, and to give the stage to Canada’s best storytellers of today and tomorrow”, Elana Rabinovitch, executive director of the Giller Foundation, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
In November 2023, the Giller prize’s ceremony was twice interrupted by protests against Scotiabank and Elbit Systems. More than 2,000 writers and publishers then signed an open letter calling on charges against the protesters to be dropped.
The prize’s 2023 winner, Sarah Bernstein, withdrew from a Giller Book Club appearance after organisers told her that audience questions about Gaza or the protest could be edited out.
More than 30 authors whose books would have been eligible for the 2024 Giller prize have withdrawn their work from consideration, signing a statement published in July. The 2024 longlist was announced last week, and includes This Strange Eventful History by Claire Messud and Held by Anne Michaels, which have both also been longlisted for the Booker prize.
Over the past year, Scotiabank’s 1832 Asset Management has reduced its stake in Elbit Systems, though it denies the protests had an influence. In mid-2023, the asset manager was Elbit Systems’ third largest shareholder with a 5.04% stake; as of mid-August, it is the seventh largest, owning 1.44%, according to Bloomberg.
In a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing released in August, the fund reported owning 641,673 shares in Elbit Systems, valued at $113m (£86m), down from 1,130,200 shares valued at $237m (£181m) in May. “Scotiabank cannot interfere in the independent investment decisions of its portfolio managers who are fiduciaries that are duty-bound to make decisions in good faith in the best interest of the funds they manage,” said a spokesperson.
