Evidence of meeting #11 for Foreign Affairs and International Development in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was israel.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Tamara Kronis Conservative Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC
I'd really like a map of what.... I'd be grateful if you could send the committee a map of the state of Palestine.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Europe, Middle East and Arctic Branch, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
I can assure you that Global Affairs has no map that isn't publicly available.
If I understand what you're trying to get at is exactly where we would see the precise boundaries of a state of Palestine, the answer to that is not a yes or a no, but it's a short one: It will be up to Palestinians and Israelis to negotiate final status issues on the return of refugees on the status of Jerusalem—
Conservative
Tamara Kronis Conservative Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC
There is no actual map that Canada is using at this point. We're waiting to find out where it heads in negotiations.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Europe, Middle East and Arctic Branch, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
Canada is not the entity that decides on the delineation of the border between Israel and Palestine. That is correct.
Conservative
Tamara Kronis Conservative Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC
Ms. Netley, I'd like to ask you about Prime Minister Carney's statement that he would arrest Prime Minister Netanyahu under the ICC arrest warrant if he were to come to Canada.
Is it Canada's position that the ICC had jurisdiction to issue that arrest warrant?
Rebecca Netley Legal Adviser and Director General, International Law Bureau, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
It's Canada's position that we're a strong supporter of the International Criminal Court, as you know, and the role that it plays in the fight against impunity. We consider the court to be an independent court—
Legal Adviser and Director General, International Law Bureau, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
Its judiciary is independent, and its prosecutors are independent.
Conservative
Tamara Kronis Conservative Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC
Therefore, yes, it is GAC's position that the arrest warrant is valid.
Legal Adviser and Director General, International Law Bureau, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
Well, it's—
Conservative
Tamara Kronis Conservative Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC
I want to ask you about the principle of complementarity, a jurisdictional principle which dictates that the ICC can only step in to prosecute crimes and issue arrest warrants when a national legal system is either unwilling or unable to do so.
Give a yes-or-no answer to this question. Is the Israeli court system currently operating?
Legal Adviser and Director General, International Law Bureau, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
Yes, it's currently operating.
Conservative
Legal Adviser and Director General, International Law Bureau, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
Yes, that would be part of what the ICC would look at in terms of evaluating the complementarity.
Conservative
Tamara Kronis Conservative Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC
Is the Supreme Court of Israel continuing to function in its capacity as both an appeals court and a judicial review body?
Legal Adviser and Director General, International Law Bureau, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
Yes, of course.
Conservative
Tamara Kronis Conservative Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC
Does the Israeli government still have the capacity to hold elections?
Legal Adviser and Director General, International Law Bureau, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
Of course.
Conservative
Tamara Kronis Conservative Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC
Are the basic state functions of policing, administration and taxation still operating in the State of Israel?
Legal Adviser and Director General, International Law Bureau, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
Yes, they are certainly operating.
Conservative
Tamara Kronis Conservative Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC
I'm wondering, given the principle of complementarity, how GAC and Canada justify their position that the ICC has jurisdiction here under the principle of complementarity.
Legal Adviser and Director General, International Law Bureau, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
Again, it's not for GAC to assess whether the arrest warrant was properly issued. We consider the International Criminal Court to be an independent and impartial tribunal. We defer to it to make those decisions with respect to its own jurisdiction.
Conservative
Tamara Kronis Conservative Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC
Do you think that the ICC's decision and conclusion that Israel is effectively a failed state for the purposes of the principle of complementarity is correct?
Legal Adviser and Director General, International Law Bureau, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
I would not say that the ICC concluded that Israel was a failed state. I would say that the ICC concluded, through its lens of the way it interprets complementarity, that it did not see evidence that an investigation had been conducted. Again, we make no comment on that conclusion it made. I just wanted to clarify how one might summarize the conclusion it had to draw prior to issuing or prior to making an application to its judicial bench for the issuance of an arrest warrant.
Conservative
Tamara Kronis Conservative Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC
Do you think Israel is capable of being able to hold any of its officials to account in this context?