Foreign Affairs Committee on March 10th, 2026

[Stuart Savage]

There is clearly a subject here that has not had a formal discussion or any direct exchange at the OAS per se. I would be able to intimate and guess only.

A number of the government member states of the OAS have made their own specific bilateral indications of their views on that operation. I would refer you to those rather than trying to interpret them for you, but I can fairly say that there are a variety of views and there are also a variety of perspectives taken, which are not all starting from the same point.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Just to be clear, Ambassador, I imagine you have access to press reviews, that you attend briefings, and that as part of your duties, you are able to analyze a situation as well as the positions of the various countries.

We are fortunate that you are here, because you have considerable expertise and a far greater understanding of the situation than we do.

The reason you have been invited here is not to speak on behalf of others, but rather to share facts with us. I imagine you are in a position to tell us how the various countries stand in light of what has happened with Mr. Maduro’s removal from Venezuela.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ahmed Hussen]

Give a quick response, please, because we're running over time.

[Stuart Savage]

The expertise that I and the team here have is shared, of course, with our headquarters, which works to develop Canadian positions based on multiple sources of information, including that which I provide to the OAS through our channels. However, we are not the only ones providing that information and input to the decision-making process.

Rather than trying to give you the views that may or may not be the most recent from the 31 other member state governments of the OAS, if you would like, I could try to seek the statements and provide those to the committee. We assess those things from here at the OAS, from our missions abroad in the capitals of those countries and through the missions resident in Ottawa. Therefore, I think mine is but one part of a larger puzzle in coming together to the Canadian position.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ahmed Hussen]

Thank you very much.

We'll start the second round of questions, beginning with MP Ziad Aboultaif.

You have five minutes.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Thank you, Chair.

Thanks to the witnesses.

Does Canada approve of Operation Absolute Resolve?

[Wendy Drukier]

It's a very clear question. Unfortunately, I cannot provide a very clear answer in terms of the meaning of the word “approve”.

Canada, certainly, as I explained in my opening remarks, had great criticism of Nicolás Maduro and how he ran Venezuela, with corruption, human rights abuses and a lack of respect for democracy. As the Prime Minister has said, we are now “taking the world as it is” and trying to look at how things will go, moving forward, with the situation in Venezuela right now and how it may progress.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

The impression out there is that the Canadian government approves of the operation—after the operation was done, just to be fair. After that, the Prime Minister said, on January 3, 2026, “Canada has long supported a peaceful, negotiated, and Venezuelan-led transition process that respects the democratic will of the Venezuelan people.” He further said, “We stand by the Venezuelan people's sovereign right to decide and build their own future in a peaceful and democratic society.”

The operation led to the replacement of Maduro by his vice-president, despite the democratic process that took place. They were supposed to end up having Mr. Urrutia as the President of Venezuela, and you indicated that Canada would support that direction.

You're giving me an unclear answer. You've given me no answer, basically, on the Canadian approval of the operation, and on the other side, there are two statements from the Prime Minister. How can we reconcile those things so we can give to the public the clear position of Canada on this important issue?

[Wendy Drukier]

I thank the member for quoting the Prime Minister, who said it much better than I could. I think his position is very clear on that question.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

His position is very clear, but the position on supporting the operation is not clear. As I said, there's a clear impression out there—I'm not going to quote anything—that Canada supported the operation. Basically, there's a fundamental contradiction between the official statement made by the Prime Minister and support of the operation. Each one of them leads to a different outcome, and that is a clear contradiction. It leaves Canada, basically, with an unclear position on the whole situation.

I'd like to ask you the question again: Can you confirm to this committee that Canada had no position on Operation Absolute Resolve?

[Wendy Drukier]

I'm not sure where the member got the statement around the impression out there that Canada supported the operation. I certainly don't have that impression either way. As I said before, the Prime Minister's statement was very clear, and I certainly wouldn't want to—

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

With all due respect, you did not deny and you did not say otherwise. You said you don't know.

This is a fundamental element in this whole conversation. I would love to see clarification on that position. Whether it's yes or no, it doesn't matter, but we need to at least know what the exact position is on that.

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

On a point of order, Mr. Chair.

I believe the witnesses answered very clearly that they supported the statement made by the Prime Minister on this matter. As the witnesses answered quite clearly, I do not think it is necessary to revisit this point.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ahmed Hussen]

Can you conclude the question? You've asked it a number of times.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

My question was very clear. For the first answer, she said that she did not know. It was no, yes, no, no. I would like just a yes or no, and there are no hard feelings.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ahmed Hussen]

Go ahead, Madame Drukier.

[Wendy Drukier]

I just want to clarify that I don't believe my response to that specific question was, “I don't know.” I would just call the member's attention again to the Prime Minister's statement.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

We'll move to the agreement between the Venezuelan government and the U.S. administration on the facilitation of the sale of Venezuelan oil.

Do we have any feedback on that agreement between the two parties? It definitely affects our industry and our position in general. Can you advise us on what Canada's knowledge is of this agreement?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ahmed Hussen]

Give a very quick response because we're out of time.

[Wendy Drukier]

We're not aware of a written agreement or specific details of that agreement. We know that the sale of oil is happening, and we know under what general conditions, but a number of executive orders and other measures from the U.S. government have governed the evolving situation.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ahmed Hussen]

Thank you very much.

Next we have MP Mona Fortier.

You have five minutes.

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier—Gloucester, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I thank the witnesses for joining us so that we can shed light on what is currently happening, on the current situation.

I have information about the past, but I would like to focus more on the current situation. That is what I would like to explore at this point.

Ms. Drukier, what tools do you have to assess what is happening on the ground in Venezuela? How can we support the Venezuelan people? What tools do you have to make certain recommendations to the United Nations Human Rights Council, to the minister, and by extension, to the Prime Minister?

[Wendy Drukier]

Mr. Chair, I think it is very relevant to discuss how to address the situation in order to support the Venezuelan people in this process, and to discuss the source of our information.

Unfortunately, we have had no one on the ground for several years. However, officials and diplomats are monitoring the situation in Venezuela very closely, including our embassy in Bogotá, Colombia. We speak regularly with Venezuelans both inside and outside the country, with NGOs, UN agencies and, above all, with our colleagues on the ground, such as the United Kingdom, for example, which is our protecting power in Venezuela. We use all these sources of information to paint a picture of the situation.

As regards Canada’s contribution, as I mentioned in my presentation, our development projects involve working with local groups, NGOs and other organizations in Venezuela to provide humanitarian aid, as well as support related to human rights and the protection of vulnerable individuals and groups. We also respond to appeals for international assistance from the United Nations or the Red Cross regarding humanitarian aid.

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier—Gloucester, ON]

Since the U.S. intervention at the start of the year, can you tell us whether any additional aid has been provided to the Venezuelan people? If so, what is the total amount of these investments and to whom have they been granted?

[Wendy Drukier]

The humanitarian situation hasn’t really changed much on the ground. We have continued to work with the humanitarian aid organizations already there. There has been no international appeal for more humanitarian aid.

Development projects take a little longer to get off the ground and the situation is evolving. We hope to be able to do more on the ground in the future.