Canada's Off The Record $60m Munitions Ends Up In Israel: Report (image@UNRWA)
US faced widespread condemnation for the sale of more than $20bn in additional weapons to Israel for its war on Gaza Strip. Surpassing US, Canada is in another level of scrutiny. Reportedly, more than $60m worth of munitions will be manufactured by a weapons company in Canada.
Rights advocates and lawyers in Canada say that this raises serious questions regarding the opaque nature of the Ottawa’s arms export regime.
As per the law, Canadian-made weapons should not be used in suspected human rights violations abroad. The reports of the said sale suggest that Ottawa is failing to keep up with the law.
“The news is appalling. Given Israel’s appalling track record of violating international humanitarian law through its operation in Gaza, including in some cases which may constitute war crimes, in no way is it appropriate for Canada to supply this ammunition”, Kelsey Gallagher, a researcher at the Canadian peace research group Project Ploughshares told Al Jazeera.
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Human rights advocates in the country denounced the lack of transparency for years, dubbing it as a dangerous “loophole” to the Canadian arms export system.
Gallagher opines that the Canadians would likely have never known that the weapons were bound for Israel, if US hadn’t revealed the information.
“Because these [weapons] are being sent through the US to Israel, these will almost certainly face no regulatory oversight by Canadian officials,” he said.
The new information suggest that a special US-Canada trade relationship is at the heart of the issue.
US and Canada enjoyed “mutually beneficial terms and conditions” on the trade of military weapons and related components via a bilateral deal called the Defence Production Sharing Agreement since 1950s.
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US is the Canada’s largest trading partner for the Canadian-made defence goods, accounting to 49.1 percent of all such exports. When Canada joined the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) in 2019, the country sought to ensure that its accession to the United Nations pact wouldn’t affect its longstanding arms export regime with the US.
“Canada and the United States have reciprocal arrangements to ensure permit-free/licence-free movement of most military items between our two countries”, the Canadian government says on its website.
