Export pause hits Brampton firm hard
Company says its light armoured vehicles were intended for police use in Israel, and not Gaza
A Canadian company that makes light armoured vehicles says its shipments destined for police use in Israel, not military use in Gaza, have been delayed without explanation by the federal government.
So have Brampton-based Roshel’s proposed shipments of light armoured vehicles (LAVS) for federal police use in Bosnia, the company says, with applications for an export licence filed on Sept. 11, nearly a month before war broke out in the Middle East. The company says this indicates Ottawa’s delays in approvals are “systemic.”
It’s not clear if the company’s plan to supply Israeli police with bulletproof security vehicles is specifically caught by the Trudeau government’s decision to pause exports to Israel of military goods and technology.
The Star reported Thursday that since Jan. 8, Canada temporarily stopped approvals of all military items to Israel amid deepening concerns about possible human rights violations. It is still receiving and reviewing applications, senior government officials said.
Those reviews, which are required under the Arms Trade Treaty and Canada’s domestic law that incorporates it, are meant in part to determine whether the equipment could be used to “commit or facilitate” the commission of a serious violation of international human rights law.
According to a 2022 federal government report on military exports, the assessment of applications must pay “careful attention” to ensure that the export “is intended for a legitimate end-use and will not be diverted” for other purposes.
Roshel’s application to send its LAVs to Israel appears to pre-date the government’s latest shift in its response to tensions in the Middle East. Global Affairs Canada in a statement to the Star Friday refused to comment on individual permit applications “on account of commercial confidentiality.”
However, it was Roshel’s own top executive, responding to the Star story on the export licence pause, who outlined the company’s frustrations with Ottawa’s non-explanations, saying it was hitting their business hard. The company says the government has not given it a reason for why its shipments have been delayed.
Roman Shimonov, president and chief executive of Roshel Inc., said the company made clear to Ottawa that the final destination for its products was not Israeli Defence Forces.
Shimonov said the company has a contract with the government of Israel to provide Senator transport vehicles, and “it is our understanding that these vehicles are not to be used for military purposes, but solely for domestic police operations. This has been communicated to the government of Canada.”
“Despite this, and multiple requests to the government of Canada, a decision on the permits for these vehicles has not been made for over three months. We have not been provided with any explanation for this delay,” he said in the statement to the Star.
In a statement Friday to the Star, Global Affairs spokesperson Jean-Pierre Godbout confirmed that “export permits for goods destined for Israel have not been issued since Jan. 8. However, the department continues to review export permits requests on a case-by-case basis. The rapidly evolving situation affects GAC’s review process under our rigorous export regime.”
He insisted that “our approach to export permit reviews has not changed — all permit applications for controlled items” are reviewed under a “robust risk assessment framework, including against the Arms Trade Treaty criteria which are enshrined in the Export and Import Permits Act.”
In the past, Godbout said the variety of export-controlled items includes products designed for both civilian and military purposes, citing examples like telecommunications equipment, decontamination equipment, cryptographic equipment, protective equipment, simulators, imaging equipment, electronic components, firearms, and ammunition.
Roshel says the six-month delay in processing its request for the Bosnia shipment is “well outside the usual delay of 10 days of approval for export to Europe.” Again, he said, it’s has no explanation “for this undue delay.”
“These delays are negatively impacting the operations of our business and the industry as a whole. We would like the government to issue its decisions promptly so we can plan our production and continue to provide high-quality jobs to our workforce.”
Michael Bueckert, speaking for Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, said in a release that “Canada’s reported pause on supposedly ‘nonlethal’ exports is a major admission that these military goods pose a serious human rights risk after all, and confirms that civil society was right all along in calling for an embargo.”
The NDP’s foreign affairs critic Heather McPherson welcomed Canada’s decision, while a motion she sponsored for debate in Parliament on Monday would call on the government to go further and suspend all trade in military goods and technology with Israel,” not just pause exports.
Most controversially, however, the NDP motion wants the Canadian government to “officially recognize the State of Palestine.” Canada supports a negotiated settlement of Palestinian claims to statehood, and embraces what’s called a “twostate solution” as the long term path to peace in the region.