FAAE Committee Report

Supplementary Opinion of the New Democratic Party of Canada

New Democrats proposed this study on Canada’s sanctions regime out of concern for the lack of transparency regarding investigation and enforcement of Canadian sanctions imposed in response to Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. We were further concerned that the Government of Canada had not fully implemented recommendations in the 2017 Foreign Affairs and International Development Committee’s report, “A Coherent and Effective Approach to Canada’s Sanctions Regimes: Sergei Magnitsky and Beyond.”

We are grateful to the witnesses for their testimony and to the analysts for their important work.

While we agree with the recommendations in this report, we offer this supplementary opinion to highlight three major weaknesses in the Government of Canada’s approach to sanctions.

Primary among them is the lack of transparency as to why some people and institutions are added to Canada’s sanctions lists and others are not. Despite clear evidence, Canada has not imposed sanctions on human rights violators from many countries, including India, China, Israel, and Azerbaijan. Canada has been reluctant to impose robust sanctions in contexts such as Saudi Arabia’s role in the war in Yemen. New Democrats lament that these inconsistencies are due to political choices made by the current government rather than a real and universal commitment to human rights.

Second, New Democrats have repeatedly raised concerns about poor enforcement of Canadian sanctions. The government’s failure to appropriately investigate, enforce sanctions, and seize assets of Russian individuals in the context of the current illegal invasion of Ukraine is unacceptable. We are alarmed that the testimony heard from government officials during this study, about lack of coordination among government departments and lack of resources to investigate and enforce sanctions, echoed much of the testimony heard during the 2017 study. The Liberal government ignored these problems for more than five years. It is well past time to act.

Multiple attempts by New Democrats to seek information on the above points – via Order Paper Questions, Points of Privilege, and Questions in the House and in Committee – were unsuccessful. Parliamentarians have a right to seek and receive this information on behalf of Canadians. The Government of Canada must do better.  

Finally, New Democrats emphasize this report’s two recommendations on Canadian arms exports and brokering. For years, we have called for greater transparency and oversight of exports of military and dual-use goods, including exports to the United States which go unreported. The Liberal government has shown no interest in addressing these problems despite many media reports suggesting Canadian arms are landing in the hands of human rights violators. This must end. New Democrats strongly encourage the Canadian government to find the political will it has thus far lacked and fix these egregious gaps in Canada’s arms export regime.

NDP, December 2023