Foreign Affairs Committee on March 10th, 2026

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

I would like to come back to what you said earlier. At present, we obviously do not have the necessary conditions to ensure a greater presence on the ground. You mentioned that you are examining the conditions that would be necessary to achieve this.

Could you tell the committee what will enable us to return to the field? I imagine we will be able to do so once we have met these conditions.

[Wendy Drukier]

We always put the safety of our diplomats first. We ensure they are safe in the field and we ensure we provide them with the appropriate conditions.

There is also the issue of accreditation. For example, if we want someone to be stationed there on a permanent basis, accreditation would need to be granted by the Venezuelan authorities.

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

I have the privilege of seeing what is happening on the consular services side. Do you know if there is a Canadian presence there and if there are any consular service needs at present?

I imagine we can work with Bogotá, in Colombia, or with our allies. Are there any requests for consular services at present?

[Wendy Drukier]

The number of requests relating to consular services in Venezuela is not very high at the moment. One of our local staff members, who is based in Caracas, handles consular services. This work is also carried out by our consular officers in Bogotá. We have not really seen an increase in the number of requests around January 3, nor since then.

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

There is, therefore, nothing new that we should be doing to ensure greater investment or capacity in support of consular services.

[Wendy Drukier]

Not at the moment, no.

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

All right, thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ahmed Hussen]

Thank you very much.

Next we have MP Brunelle-Duceppe.

You have two and a half minutes.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Savage, I believe you studied international relations at the University of Windsor, if I am not mistaken. Is that correct?

[Stuart Savage]

Yes, I do have some studies in that.

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

I imagine that this training includes courses on international law. I looked into the curriculum and, as it stands, I see that there are courses on international law. Was that the case in 1989?

[Stuart Savage]

Yes, I have had some introduction to international law.

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

Fabulous.

I’m going to ask you a completely hypothetical question. Suppose a democratic ally decided, without consulting its allies, to carry out an operation in a country that is not democratic and to exfiltrate the president of that non-democratic country, who heads a corrupt regime. Based on your training at the University of Windsor, would that be described as a situation that violates international law?

[Stuart Savage]

I appreciate the thoughtfulness of this question, but I understand that I'm here to respond factually to Canada's relationship and actions at the OAS vis-à-vis Venezuela, and I would not want to get into speculation on hypotheticals. I want to respect what I've been told.

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

That's fine, I understand perfectly, Ambassador.

If I am not mistaken, your role as ambassador is to inform the Government of Canada of what you know and what you are doing within the Organization of American States. That is your role. You send communications.

When there is a major event—I think the abduction of a head of state by another country is a major event—you normally send reports to Canada.

In your communications to the Government of Canada or the Department of Foreign Affairs, do you include the positions of the various countries that make up the Organization of American States, or do you say absolutely nothing about how other countries are positioning themselves when you send your communications?

[Stuart Savage]

On the matter in question, it would normally be part of what we do on matters that are of significant interest to Canada to indeed reflect the views of other countries, particularly the more important players around the table. This would be part of a broader information exercise that would involve other parts of the Global Affairs network as well.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ahmed Hussen]

Thank you very much.

Next we go to MP Kramp-Neuman.

You have five minutes.

[Shelby Kramp-Neuman, Conservative, Hastings—Lennox and Addington—Tyendinaga, ON]

Thank you.

The Prime Minister said, “Canada attaches great importance to resolution of crises through multilateral engagement and is in close contact with international partners about ongoing developments.” Specifically which international partners has the government been in contact with, and through what forums or mechanisms did this take place?

[Wendy Drukier]

The Canadian government has been in contact with other governments at various levels, in part through discussions at the Organization of American States and through bilateral communications between ministers, for example, as well as officials.

Part of the work on the ground of our missions abroad is to speak to local authorities about important situations or developments in the world. We've been in touch with many countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, and we've spoken with European allies, as well as the United States.

[Shelby Kramp-Neuman, Conservative, Hastings—Lennox and Addington—Tyendinaga, ON]

Thank you.

Was the Canadian government made aware of Operation Absolute Resolve prior to January 3? To follow up, did it receive advance notice?

[Wendy Drukier]

The Canadian government was not made aware of the operation prior to it being carried out. We were not given any advance notice.

[Shelby Kramp-Neuman, Conservative, Hastings—Lennox and Addington—Tyendinaga, ON]

Did Canada coordinate its response through any other bodies, or was it unilaterally within the Canadian government?

[Wendy Drukier]

Canada responded to the developments. Clearly, this was a situation that happened quickly. We had a statement from the minister, I believe, the same day. The Prime Minister issued a statement very quickly as well. This was primarily done by the Canadian government.

[Shelby Kramp-Neuman, Conservative, Hastings—Lennox and Addington—Tyendinaga, ON]

Primarily? Were there any other bodies involved?

[Wendy Drukier]

I'm not aware of any consultations that happened prior to those statements. That doesn't mean discussions weren't had that I was not aware of.