Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) was established in 1999 as a result of a merger between two student organizations based at Concordia and McGill University; the Concordia Centre for Palestinian Human Rights (CCPHR) and the McGill Palestinian Solidarity Committee (PSC). It was after a three month long discussion that the two boards decided to merge and to consolidate their resources to the furthering of the Palestinian struggle for human rights. Having noticed a certain vacuum in the Canadian solidarity movement, the members wanted to create a unique and independent organization which would be able to promote the Palestinian struggle in all of its aspects. Their logic was that they wanted to create an organization which would have enough credibility to be able to appeal to the general public without compromising basic human right principles and facts surrounding the Palestinian plight.
Founding members of the group wanted to build an organization which would not be apologetic or hypocritical and which would even be, at times, critical of the Palestinian community when necessary. But SPHR's mission soon expanded to more then strictly the defense of Palestinian basic rights for freedom and dignity. In fact, the plight of the Jewish people and their struggle against anti-Semitism quickly became one of the focal points of the organization due to the recognition of the interconnection between the struggle against anti-Semitism and Palestinian human rights. The organizers wanted to educate both the Palestinian community and the general public of the historical and ideological differences between Israeli State policies and the Jewish people.
