Foreign Affairs Committee on March 24th, 2022

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Thank you for that.

I'm sure you're aware that on February 22, 2021, the House of Commons voted unanimously that what the government of China is doing to the Uighur people rises to the level of genocide. While this was not a binding motion, there is a moral prerogative, I would say.

I'd like to know what we are doing to protect the vulnerable Uighur populations, in particular in third countries outside of China. What are we doing to protect those populations? Could you update us on that?

[Marta Morgan]

We believe that the human rights situation in China is of grave concern, specifically with respect to the Uighur people but for other minorities as well, in addition to the situations in Tibet and Hong Kong. We've called for, as Minister Joly noted, a transparent and unfettered access in order for the situation to be assessed, particularly by Madam Bachelet.

In terms of what else we're doing, we've taken a number of actions in order to address the risk of forced labour by Uighurs. That includes, for example, the prohibition of imports made in whole or in part by forced labour, responsible business conduct guidelines developed for Canadian companies and business advisory export controls. As well, we have imposed sanctions on a number of officials within China who we believe are implicated in the human rights abuses of the Uighur population.

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

While I am on the subject, I would be remiss not to bring up the name of Huseyin Celil, a Canadian citizen who has been detained for several years in China.

We've given a lot of attention to “the two Michaels”. Huseyin Celil hasn't benefited from the same amount of attention.

There have been suggestions—actually, more than suggestions—calls for us to have a special envoy to ensure his release. This was made by former attorney general Irwin Cotler.

Can you comment on the consular services and the idea of the special envoy?

[Marta Morgan]

Yes. We have been very actively engaged since Mr. Celil's initial detention in 2006. We continue to raise his case at every opportunity. The department continues to provide support to the family of Mr. Celil as well.

This is an issue that is very important to us, and we continue to raise it at every opportunity with our Chinese interlocutors.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sven Spengemann]

Thank you, Mr. Zuberi.

Mr. Genuis, you have five minutes.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Those were excellent questions from my colleague, Mr. Zuberi. I would note that Mr. Celil's wife has expressed some frustration in terms of the interactions, or not having the same level of engagement in recent years, especially since 2015. That is what she has said.

I want to ask further about sanctions. Could you advise on how much money and how many assets are frozen in Canada because of sanctions on Russia?

[Marta Morgan]

As Minister Joly noted, we have imposed sanctions on over 1,000 individuals and entities. In addition, we have worked with the G7 to remove the access of a number of Russian banks to the SWIFT system, as well as to remove their access to their reserves.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

I am aware of that. My question was with respect to how much money and how many assets have been frozen in Canada as a result of that sanctioning.

[Marta Morgan]

I don't have that information because really, once we get into the enforcement space, that is the responsibility of financial institutions, and it's a responsibility of the RCMP and the CBSA in terms of enforcement.

What I can tell you, though, is that for anyone who is sanctioned—anyone who is on that list—any assets they have in Canada are frozen, which means that they can't trade them, sell them or do anything with them.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

I understand that.

[Marta Morgan]

At Global Affairs, we don't track what those assets are.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Would you be able to get that information from partner agencies and share that with the committee?

[Marta Morgan]

I will get whatever information I can, but I'm not sure that we actually have that comprehensively. This is actually one of the reasons you've seen the formation of the task force globally within the G7, in order to ensure that these assets are tracked and that there is appropriate enforcement. This includes our Department of Finance and the Treasury in the U.S., as well as our European counterparts. That's one area we're working on as well with allies.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

It would be of great interest to the committee to receive that information, so we do look forward to a written follow-up advising what information you have and sharing that information to the extent that it's available.

Is the government considering sectoral bans as part of its suite of sanctions, perhaps things like the sale of equipment used for oil and gas production in Russia?

[Marta Morgan]

We've actually just approved a swathe of sanctions that are essentially more like an export ban on certain commercial products. This will align us with the export ban that was announced by the U.S. right after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

While I can't go into detail on that here, I am happy to provide you with all of the export controls that includes. It will include a lot of equipment, machinery, parts that are useful in different industries and so on. That's the purpose of those export controls.

Beyond the process that we have right now, which is really focused on military or dual-use export controls, this will control the export of commercial-grade products.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Okay. Thank you.

The minister talked about really suffocating the regime and its capacity to wage war. Those are important words, and we want to see strong follow-up in terms of sanctions that target Russia's economic capacity to wage this war.

I asked the minister about foreign interference, and she replied that it wasn't her area of responsibility. I had a look at the mandate letter, and her mandate letter from the Prime Minister actually does speak about combatting foreign interference.

Could you advise what Global Affairs is doing, or how Global Affairs is involved in the issue of foreign interference?

[Marta Morgan]

The lead role in terms of combatting foreign interference is within the Public Safety agencies, but of course there are foreign policy considerations that need to be brought to bear when we look at foreign interference.

One initiative that we have, which is actually quite interesting, is called the RRM, or the rapid response mechanism. The Prime Minister just announced its renewal a couple of weeks ago when he was in Europe. It's a small group in my organization that actually looks at foreign interference in elections abroad, from a social media perspective.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Just quickly, in the time I have, can you tell me whether we saw that interference in Canada's last federal election? That was my question to the minister, and you would seem to know about it.

[Marta Morgan]

That question would best be put to the Minister of Public Safety. It's really the Public Safety agencies that have the primary responsibility, but I do have a small unit that looks at foreign interference abroad and looks at what is happening in social media and whether we see any sort of evidence of that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sven Spengemann]

We'll have to leave it there. Thank you, Mr. Genuis.

Colleagues, the bells are going. This is just a reminder that we agreed to go until 5:30, and I think we'll land pretty much on the nose with the time that's left.

Mr. Ehsassi, go ahead, please, for five minutes.

[Ali Ehsassi, Liberal, Willowdale, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, Ms. Morgan.

As you know, the minister didn't really have a chance to get into the issue of how Canada's leading the way to make sure we are documenting and gathering evidence about war crimes and crimes against humanity that Russia may be committing.

Could you tell us what the significance of that is?

[Marta Morgan]

We have been very actively working with our partners, first of all, in the motion that was brought before the ICC by Ukraine in order to declare that Russia's rationale for this invasion was completely unfounded. That was a successful motion.

We will continue to work with our allies as we move forward to document war crimes, because our view is that there will have to be accountability and that it will be critical, not just for Ukraine but for the entire world, that there be international accountability for the actions that are being taken now that are targeted at civilians and that contravene international law.

[Ali Ehsassi, Liberal, Willowdale, ON]

Thank you for that.

Perhaps I could follow up on the question Mr. Zuberi asked with respect to the case of Mr. Celil. As you know, the facts of that case are painful just in terms of how long we have been trying to effect his release, which, of course, has not happened.

Would you be in favour of appointing a special envoy, as Irwin Cotler has suggested?

[Marta Morgan]

Mr. Chair, we have a very strong consular team within the Ministry of Global Affairs, and we work tirelessly to assist on all consular cases, including the case of Mr. Celil. We are constant—

[Ali Ehsassi, Liberal, Willowdale, ON]

So far it seems as though it hasn't been effective after 15 years. Is that correct?