Foreign Affairs Committee on Dec. 5th, 2024

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

I call this meeting to order.

Welcome to meeting number 132 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development.

Today's meeting is taking place in a hybrid format. I would like to remind all members and participants of the following points: Please wait until I recognize you by name before speaking, and please raise your hand if you wish to speak, whether participating in person or via Zoom.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted by the committee on Thursday, September 26, 2024, the committee is commencing its study of Canada's relations with Latin America and the Caribbean.

I'd like to welcome our two witnesses for today. We're very grateful they could join us. From the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development, we are grateful to have with us Ms. Sylvie Bédard, director general, Central America and the Caribbean, and Ms. Wendy Drukier, director general, South America and hemispheric affairs.

As I understand it, you'll be giving just one opening statement. With respect to your opening remarks and the questions that follow, I would ask that you both look up every once in a while. I will be indicating when you have 15 to 20 seconds left to wrap up.

Ms. Drukier, I understand that you will be speaking. You have five minutes for your opening remarks. You have the floor.

[Wendy Drukier, Director General, South America and Hemispheric Affairs, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development]

Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee, for the opportunity to address Canada's relations with Latin America and the Caribbean, or LAC.

I'm Wendy Drukier, director general for South America and hemispheric affairs. I am accompanied today by Sylvie Bédard, director general for Central America and the Caribbean.

The Americas are our neighbourhood. There are a myriad of elements to highlight with respect to Canada's engagement and co-operation with the hemisphere. The strong people-to-people ties that exist among our countries can be clearly seen through the over one million individuals from LAC who call Canada home.

Canada is a trusted partner in the region, collaborating with several countries and the inter-American system on issues such as democracy, human rights, gender equality and economic growth.

Over the past year, we have seen high-level Canadian engagement in the region, including the Minister of International Development's participation in the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community—known as CARICOM—in Grenada, as well as his visits to Guatemala, Honduras, Bolivia and Peru.

In addition, the Minister of Foreign Affairs went to Mexico and Chile, and the Prime Minister went to Peru for the meeting of APEC, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, as well as to Brazil for the G20 Summit.

Canada has a healthy and growing economic relationship with LAC. Since 2018, two-way merchandise and services trade has grown by 33% and 23% respectively. This economic relationship is underpinned by eight free trade agreements and a network of 25 trade commissioner offices across the region. The Canadian government's approach is informed by the expectation that Canadian companies operating abroad will abide by all relevant laws, respect human rights, and adopt best practices and internationally respected guidelines on responsible business conduct.

We recognize that a healthy and growing economic relationship needs to be inclusive to better address poverty in the region. Canada's international assistance for the region was valued at $1.07 billion in fiscal year 2022-23, with the Caribbean, Haiti, Honduras and Colombia being the main beneficiaries.

It's hardly necessary to point out the effects of climate change on the Americas. When Hurricane Beryl hit the Caribbean this year, Canada was one of the leading donors of humanitarian assistance.

In 2022‑23, the Canadian government invested $252 million to implement climate change programs in the region. These programs support the clean energy transition, climate-smart agriculture, biodiversity protection, disaster preparedness and recovery.

Strengthening democratic institutions in the region is a key priority for the Government of Canada, in particular in the face of the erosion of those institutions in some countries. Through the Organization of American States, of which Canada has been a member since 1990, Canada provided technical support to eight electoral management bodies over the past three years to bolster their capacities to administer electoral processes. Notably, the OAS, with support from Canada and other member states, directly contributed to avoiding a democratic breakdown in Guatemala late last year.

Canada continues to support free and fair elections. In Venezuela the Canadian government unequivocally condemns the escalating repression by the Maduro regime. In coordination with international partners, Canada demands that the democratic will of the Venezuelan people be respected. We continue to assess how best to support them.

The Government of Canada remains deeply concerned by the steep rates of irregular migration and forced displacement across the Americas, a trend that includes increasing numbers of women and children on the move and is exacerbated by the crises in Venezuela and Haiti. Through its international assistance, Canada aims to support transit and host countries, address the root causes of migration and displacement, and support the integration of refugees and migrants in their host communities.

Being a country of the Americas means we are affected by rising regional insecurity. Countries once considered stable are now grappling with increased organized crime and violence. This can have a direct impact on Canada. The Canadian government's approach to defence and security co-operation in the region includes significant investments in capacity building and specialized training, working with partners through such mechanisms as the anti-crime capacity-building program, and the weapons threat reduction program to address illegal drug threats and transnational crime. In a recent appearance before this committee, GAC officials presented a four-pillar strategy to the Haiti crisis.

In closing, sustained and meaningful Canadian engagement with the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean is important, especially considering an increasingly complex, volatile and multipolar world.

We look forward to addressing the committee's questions.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Thank you very much, Ms. Drukier.

We will begin our first round of questions.

MP Chong, you're first. You have six minutes for this round.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to our witnesses for appearing.

I'd like to talk about the situation in Venezuela. First, why hasn't the government been more categoric about recognizing that presidential candidate González won the election, and not presidential candidate Maduro?

[Wendy Drukier]

Mr. Chair, I believe the government has been very clear in recognizing that Edmundo González Urrutia won the most votes in the election. That was included in the September 9 statement made by Minister Joly.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Okay. Initially, in the weeks after last summer's election, the government wasn't clear about who had won the election from the Government of Canada's point of view. You're telling me now that the government clearly believes that Mr. González won the election and that Maduro lost the election.

[Wendy Drukier]

From all of the available evidence that we have seen, in particular the evidence that has been produced by the opposition and the electoral observation missions—for example, from the Carter Center—it's very clear that he did win the most votes.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Yes. Thank you. I appreciate that clear answer.

The U.S. has sanctioned, I believe, some 16 of Maduro's individuals for having rigged the last election. Is Canada planning on working in concert with our closest ally to ensure that there is no sanctions evasion coming through the Canadian financial system?

[Wendy Drukier]

Mr. Chair, Canada has imposed targeted sanctions on 112 Venezuelan officials, including de facto President Maduro and other high-ranking regime officials. These sanctions were imposed under both the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act and the Special Economic Measures Act.

The department regularly reviews the sanctions regime against developments in the country. We continue to do that with Venezuela.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that those sanctions predate the rigging of the last Venezuelan election. Is that correct?

[Wendy Drukier]

That is correct.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Is there any consideration within the department about ensuring that the individuals that the U.S. government has sanctioned won't be able to use our financial system as a back door to evade U.S. sanctions?

[Wendy Drukier]

As I said, the government and the department are doing ongoing reviews of the sanctions regime and where it would be appropriate to impose sanctions. I can't provide any further details.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Okay.

Can you give us an update on what's going on with the Lima Group? Is it essentially defunct?

[Wendy Drukier]

That is correct. The Lima Group is no longer functioning.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Okay.

Can you give us an update on what our diplomatic assets, our consular assets, are on the ground in Venezuela and also in the surrounding countries?

[Wendy Drukier]

We have a lot of diplomatic assets in the surrounding countries. In Venezuela we still have our chancery, our embassy building, as well as our official residence. We currently have three locally engaged staff on the ground there. I believe we have around 700 Canadians registered in ROCA, the registry of Canadians abroad, as being in Venezuela.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Okay.

Recently issues around migration and the like have become top-of-mind concerns. According to the government's own data, some seven million Venezuelans have left Venezuela since 2015. Can you tell us what discussions are going on about migration, not just from Venezuela but also Latin American countries in general, that is putting pressure on borders to the north?

[Wendy Drukier]

On the migration question, our figures are that around 7.8 million Venezuelans have left the country, and 85% of those Venezuelans are actually still in Latin America and the Caribbean. It's a huge issue for host countries. The majority or the largest number of those are in Colombia. There are also a lot in Brazil and Peru and other neighbouring countries.

We've been providing development assistance and humanitarian assistance to those countries to help integrate the migrants into the communities and help provide services to them to find meaningful work.

In terms of the broader migration question, we've undertaken a number of initiatives in South America in terms of supporting host communities. We also have a significant amount of peace and security funding through the anti-crime capacity-building program to deal with organized crime and the trafficking in migrants.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

I can't remember exactly, but about a year or so ago, the Biden administration, in response to rising energy prices, lifted sanctions on the importation of Venezuelan oil. I believe it was a quarter of a million barrels of oil a day. Has the Canadian government ever participated in discussions with the U.S. government about Canada being available to help alleviate some of those pricing pressures?

It seems to me that as Canada is right next door to the United States, it would be better if the quarter million barrels in additional oil came from Canada rather than Venezuela, choking off a source of funds for Maduro.

[Wendy Drukier]

Unfortunately, that's not under my area of responsibility. I don't have an answer to that question, but we can certainly try to get an answer to that.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Yes. Could you perhaps let us know if any discussions have been going on in that regard? I think Chevron was the company asked to go in to provide those barrels. Obviously, Chevron operates in North America as well. It might be that the Government of Canada could provide assistance to our American ally, rather than Venezuela.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Those are my questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chong.

We will go now to MP Oliphant for six minutes.

[Rob Oliphant, Liberal, Don Valley West, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you both for being here. Please extend our thanks to the dozens of folks who work with you to keep us abreast of what's going on in the Americas and to the hundreds who work throughout the Americas.

I have three areas of questioning. I'll probably only get to two.

The first one is on institutions. I want to start at a macro level. The second one is related to migration, and the third one is about the indigenous peoples of the Americas.

On the macro level, can you describe how Canada works in the Americas in our multilateral presence, either with the Organization of American States—the OAS—or other hemispheric or regional bodies in which Canada plays a role? I'd like just a snapshot of that.

[Wendy Drukier]

Of course. Canada has been a member of the Organization of American States since 1990. We are very much engaged in that organization as the second-largest contributor of both assessed and voluntary contributions. The OAS plays a very important role on a number of issues, including, as I mentioned in my opening statement, electoral co-operation, supporting democracy, human rights, security and the development side. We support a lot of that work through our assistance and our funding in the regular budget and through voluntary contributions.

We are also involved in the Summit of the Americas process. The next summit will be held at the end of next year in the Dominican Republic. That is always a useful forum for leaders to engage on the pressing issues in the hemisphere.

We've been supporting within the OAS the Department of Electoral Cooperation and Observation, or DECO, on electoral observation and technical support to electoral bodies; the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in the important work that they do; the Inter-American Commission of Women and a lot of the work they do on the ground; and the Secretariat for Multidimensional Security, where we are providing capacity-building funds as well.

In terms of other inter-American institutions, there is, of course, the Inter-American Development Bank, in which we are an important shareholder; the Pan American Health Organization, where we engage; and the inter-American institute for agriculture. We engage with a panoply of institutions.