The problem with multilateral sanctions is that they tend to be watered down, or people tend to wait until it's far too late, or until really all the teeth are taken out. You're dealing with so many different considerations at the same time.
I think unilateral sanctions are a great way and it's absolutely incumbent on democratic governments, whether it's Denmark or Canada, to push them through and to lead the way. Sometimes these lists are not necessarily going to be the same. Sometimes they will overlap and sometimes they will not, but they will bring some enormous value.
With me today, waiting for me outside, is Abdul Aziz al-Hamza, who is a member of Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently, a collective based out of Syria. When someone like that knows that you are talking about these issues and that you are taking specific action against certain government officials, in the Assad government for instance, it's a sea change of transformation to people on the front lines of the human rights fight.
Once individual actors in this are being identified, it sends a very strong message to people in that country. No one wants to be on one of these lists.
I would encourage you to have a list for each country that you think is problematic and then let the court of public opinion, let investigative journalism, and if there is a process that can be had, determine whether or not these people should or should not be on the list. These lists have enormous power. We're not talking about putting these people in prison by being on a list. It could be a visa sanction or it could be asset seizures. I think it's a very good thing and I highly encourage you to keep looking more into this.
Canada can be a world leader on this subject, especially if it also goes after the cronies, the people who are looting. Remember, no human rights violations would occur if it wasn't for loot. These people aren't violating human rights because they wish to rule over others. They're violating human rights because they wish to rule over others while they take the natural resources from those countries and hide them away, many times with Canadian companies helping them to do so.