OWNING UP TO ARMS DEALING
Canada still exports to repressive regimes, Cesar Jaramillo writes.
Last week, Global Affairs Canada announced the suspension of Canadian arms exports to Turkey in response to allegations that they were being diverted to the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. Reports emerged that Turkish drones, equipped with sensors made in Ontario by L3Harris WESCAM, had been used by Azerbaijan to attack Armenian targets.
The suspension was welcome and necessary. But it could well be short-lived.
This was the third time in just over three years that Canada has announced the suspension of export permits to a country accused of violating international law. The first two incidents involved Saudi Arabia, the top nonU.S. destination for Canadian arms exports. Both times the suspension was eventually lifted.
In July 2017, then-foreign minister Chrystia Freeland announced a “full and thorough” investigation following reports that Canadian-made armoured vehicles had been used to violently suppress protest in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province. Leaked footage and photographs showed Terradyne Armoured Vehicles, likely produced in Newmarket, Ont., in a security operation that resulted in scores of killed civilians. Arms exports to Saudi Arabia were suspended.
Global Affairs promised to act “if it is found that Canadian exports have been used to commit serious violations of human rights.” In fact, no such confirmation of misuse was required for action to be taken; under domestic and international law, risk of misuse is the threshold for denying arms exports. Still, after a perfunctory and flawed investigation that relied heavily on unnamed sources and official Saudi denials of wrongdoing, Global Affairs justified Saudi Arabia's actions and announced that arms exports there were to resume.
In October 2018, as Riyadh came under global condemnation for the brazen assassination of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau himself pledged that Canada would “not hesitate” to freeze exports to Saudi Arabia. United Nations special rapporteur Agnes Callamard, who led an inquiry into the incident, labelled the Khashoggi assassination “a brutal and premeditated killing, planned and perpetrated by officials of the state of Saudi Arabia.”
With a $14-billion deal with
Riyadh for light armoured vehicles manufactured by General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada under intense scrutiny, Trudeau went on to say that Canada was looking for “a way of no longer exporting these vehicles to Saudi Arabia.” Global Affairs promptly announced that Canadian arms exports to Saudi Arabia would be reviewed, and that no new arms export permits would be issued, pending the results of the investigation.
The report of the investigation, issued in September 2019, found that “officials did not identify any existing permits or pending applications that would be of concern.” All suspensions were lifted soon thereafter; Canadian arms would continue flowing to Saudi Arabia.
And so, recent history suggests that the announced suspension of arms exports to Turkey must be taken with a grain of salt. Also significant is the fact that, unlike Saudi Arabia, Turkey is a NATO ally. It is possible that other NATO members could pressure Canada to resume exports, citing, for example, requirements for military interoperability among alliance members.
The troubling reality is that the Canadian arms industry has become alarmingly linked with disreputable regimes that are engaged in some of the world's most devastating conflicts. And the federal government has been complicit by seeking out, then preserving lucrative arms deals with such actors. This is an untenable position — and one that cannot be concealed from the rest of the world. Only last month, Canada and other arms exporters were chastised in a UN report for perpetuating the crisis in Yemen.
Despite government claims, Canada does not have one of the strongest export controls systems in the world. Replete with contradictions in policy and practice, the system has been weak and unreliable. Today, a disconcertingly high proportion of Canadian arms exports help to sustain autocratic regimes, perpetuate armed conflict and enable the violation of human rights.
Admittedly, this view of Canada as an unscrupulous arms dealer clashes with the carefully crafted government discourse on the high standards of rigour and transparency that purportedly inform Canada's arms export decisions. But the data are sturdy and compelling.
There is a troubling gap between official rhetoric and official practice. Perhaps it is time to own up to the truth, however ugly, about this important aspect of Canadian foreign policy. And to build a new truth for a postCOVID-19 world.