It is very important for us to highlight that the size of the human rights crisis in Mexico is so big that we are not only talking about addressing it with some mentions in some chapter of NAFTA: we are talking about a big human rights crisis that is going on in Mexico, and the question is, how can Canada help to build the rule of law in Mexico?
What we have learned in the last years of NAFTA is that you can have trade without justice. You can have free trade without the rule of law. That's the reality of our country. You need to question if this is the model of trade that Canada wants to support.
For us, Canada can do more and do better to support the work of journalists on human rights. It is important that the Canadian state follow up specific cases of the analysis of abuses against indigenous communities, of abuses regarding the disappearance of people, the extrajudicial killings, and the aggression against journalists. To publicly show support to the civil society of Mexico is becoming more and more important.
We have a government that sees much of the work of civil society as work that is against their interests. We are talking about a government that uses spyware against human rights NGOs. Canada needs to question if this is the partner that it wants for free trade in North America and needs to be more demanding and more exigent with regard Mexico's failure in the rule of law and the respect for basic rights.