Protesters gathered outside Indigo stores in Toronto on Wednesday to advocate for a boycott over the CEO’s patronage of a foundation they say supports the Israel Defence Forces (IDF).

CEO Heather Reisman’s ties to the HESEG Foundation, which she co-founded in 2005 with her husband, Gerald Schwartz, has been criticized by pro-Palestinan supporters in the city amid Israel’s war in Gaza – including one instance last year, when an Indigo store downtown was vandalized with red paint and posters accusing Reisman of funding genocide.

According to its website, HESEG provides scholarships and support for living expenses to former IDF lone soldiers, who are recruits with no family or support system in Israel.

Pro-Palestinian protesters argue the scholarship is an incentive to join the IDF. Reisman and Schwartz “have used their substantial share of profits from Indigo” to support HESEG, according to a website run by a pro-Palestinian campaign called Indigo Kills Kids.

“Indigo customers are now unknowingly also a part of this whole scheme,” said Sara Rasikh, who protested at Indigo’s location on Bay and Bloor streets.

CBC Toronto reached out to Indigo but did not hear back by deadline.

Indigo CEO Heather Reisman and her husband, Gerald Schwartz, founded HESEG in 2005. The foundation ‘was established out of a sense of obligation and gratitude’ to lone soldiers in the Israel Defence Forces, according to its website. (Ed Middleton/CBC)

Advocates say HESEG is violating Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) rules by supporting a foreign military and should be stripped of its charitable status — but a prominent Jewish group says it’s a “malicious campaign targeting Heather Reisman and Indigo.”

The Gerald Schwartz & Heather Reisman Foundation has donated almost $40.5 million to HESEG over the past five years, the CRA online portal shows.

Lori Shapiro, president of The Gerald Schwartz & Heather Reisman Foundation, declined comment, but told CBC Toronto earlier this month that “HESEG in no way provides support for the IDF, operates exclusively for charitable purposes … and is and always has been fully compliant with Canadian laws.”

HESEG established out of ‘gratitude’ to soldiers: website

According to the HESEG website, translated from Hebrew, the foundation “was established out of a sense of obligation and gratitude to the thousands of lone soldiers who served in the IDF, most of them young people who left what was dearest to them: parents, family and friends, immigrated to Israel alone and enlisted.”

It also says Schwartz and Reisman “see the lone soldiers as the cutting edge of volunteerism and contribution to the State of Israel.”

Pro-Palestinian activists argue the HESEG Foundation is an incentive to join the Israel Defence Forces. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)

The protests on Wednesday were part of a national day of action planned by Indigo Kills Kids. Last week, Indigo won a temporary court order to block the campaign’s original website domain after arguing it was copyright infringement.

“Rather than ending their complicity in a genocide, this company is going to court instead and trying to suppress an important public education campaign,” said Jenna Maingot, who attended a protest at an Indigo store in Mississauga.

Meanwhile, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs said Friday that Indigo Kills Kids is an anti-Israel group that has “spread false and defamatory messages about Indigo, an iconic Canadian retailer that has been a beacon of philanthropy for the Jewish community,” in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

The group also encouraged people to buy from Indigo on Wednesday “to counter this injustice.”

Hamas-led militants launched a surprise attack against Israel on Oct. 7. That attack killed around 1,200 people and took another 250 hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel then attacked Gaza in an ongoing war that has killed more than 41,020 Palestinians and wounded 94,925 more, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Over 10,000 of those killed were children.

At the United Nations’ top court in May, Israel strongly denied charges of genocide.

Public indirectly supports all charitable donations: expert

Pro-Palestinian advocates say all Canadian taxpayers are subsidizing donations to HESEG because of how provincial and federal tax breaks for charities work.

Tax breaks mean the public indirectly supports all charitable donations, said Jamie Golombek, managing director of tax and estate planning with CIBC Private Wealth.

“We as a society are saying we’re allowing people to make those decisions [to donate] and therefore reduce the taxes that the government has,” he said.

For donors in the highest income bracket, 50 per cent or more of their donations could be subsidized, depending on the province, Golombek said.

In an email to CBC Toronto, the Canada Revenue Agency said ‘generally speaking,’ a purpose to promote a foreign military is not charitable. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

In an email to CBC Toronto, CRA spokesperson Sylvie Branch said “an organization must be constituted exclusively for charitable purposes and devote all its resources to activities that further those purposes” to be a registered charity.

“Generally speaking, a purpose to promote a foreign military is not charitable,” Branch said.

In an email to CBC Toronto earlier this month, CRA spokesperson Benoit Sabourin said the agency could not disclose whether HESEG or The Gerald Schwartz & Heather Reisman Foundation are currently under audit, due to confidentiality provisions in the Income Tax Act.

“The CRA’s actions can only be made public when an audit results in charitable registration being revoked, annulled, or suspended, or when a charity is penalized,” Sabourin said.

Cut ties, protesters urge Indigo CEO

Nadia Shammas, a Palestinian-American author, also attended Wednesday’s protest outside the Indigo store on Bay and Bloor streets. She said a lot of her work is written for Palestinian children.

Sara Rasikh, who participated in the protests Wednesday, said pro-Palestinian protesters will continue putting pressure on Reisman to cut ties with HESEG. (CBC)

“I’m not looking for Indigo to shut down, and I’m not looking for Heather Reisman to be ruined,” Shammas said.

“I’m simply looking for the sales of books, which is among the most precious things to me, to not directly contribute to the murder of children that I am writing for and about.”

Rasikh says pro-Palestinian protesters will continue putting pressure on Reisman to cut ties with HESEG.

“Hopefully, Heather Reisman hears us and knows that we won’t stop applying pressure and showing up, until and unless there is change,” she said.