Thank you for the question. I would say that we've had an ongoing dialogue with the Government of Canada for a number of years about the issue of sanctions, starting in 2014.
Obviously our organization works in Canada, but we work with partners in Ukraine. There are many civil society organizations that follow these kinds of cases in the Russian court system, and many partners who profile this, such as Amnesty International and others who follow the court cases. For many of these people, the situation is that although they are Ukrainian citizens, they have been arrested in Crimea and eastern Ukraine and are tried and jailed in the Russian domestic court and penal system. That's the crux of the issue.
We have supplied lists that we've received from organizations such as Let My People Go. We have copies of some of these lists here to share with members as well, from specific cases; every case has a process from the arrest to the prosecution. These lists include the judges, prosecutors, police officials, and, ultimately, prison authorities. There is an increasing volume of evidence of the kinds of people involved in the mechanics of detaining a Ukrainian political prisoner. We're happy to share those with the committee today.
We have supported the creation of a sanctions unit at the Department of Global Affairs, because we know that this has been an ever-evolving issue. We are hopeful that they are considering these kinds of further actions, but again—I think for a variety of reasons—they're not able to share with us the details of their work in terms of who specifically they're looking at. I think that's the kind of question that members of Parliament should be asking of the department. We look forward to hearing more about what they are able to do.