Madam Chair, we have all along argued that sanctions against individuals in Russia who are responsible for human rights abuses should be stepped up and that people we know are involved in both corruption and human rights abuses should be placed on those lists. We have been disappointed that the government has been slow to move on some of those additions to the lists for sanctions. We would, of course, support that at any time. However, it is also true that we have to keep up the pressure on Russia on so many fronts at the same time. If Canada does not play this role, for instance, by leading the mission in Latvia, and does not continue this assistance to Ukraine, Russia would only be emboldened with regard to further territorial ambitions and also further human rights abuses.
In the House of Commons on March 20th, 2017. See this statement in context.