Foreign Affairs committee  Absolutely. We are required to. It says quite clearly that if you engage in sanctions-busting activity, you are obligated to contact the RCMP, so yes.

Foreign Affairs committee  Well, I don't think the government necessarily has to establish it, but they do need to inform some of the associations to make sure that the right Canadian sanctions training is being offered and available and to encourage sanctions practitioners and people in the government to take it.

Foreign Affairs committee  I'm not sure I would go that far, but it does weaken western coherence and legitimacy when, for example, the EU or the U.K. sanctions.... If they're going to sanction Gabon for their coup, but Canada doesn't, what does that say about Canada's respect for unconstitutional changes of government?

Foreign Affairs committee  Well, I have no doubt that the Government of Canada is always concerned about the unity of the country. I mean, that is one of the number one national interests—

Foreign Affairs committee  I guess I'm not understanding your question.

Foreign Affairs committee  I think there are a myriad of factors. I don't think we can distill it down to doing one thing and then all of a sudden everything will be terrific. It's really complicated. We're asking the sanctions bureau to change the tires on a car while it's careening down a highway. It's really difficult.

Foreign Affairs committee  No, what I'm saying is that the Global Affairs website has all sanctions—the UN sanctions, the autonomous ones, and the freezing of assets. Guinea-Bissau is not listed, because Global Affairs says it's only an inadmissibility sanction travel ban, and they don't do travel bans. That's another department, so they're not going to list it on the Global Affairs website.

Foreign Affairs committee  It's a great question. The fact that we have the same recommendations that come up time and time again and they're on the list and they don't seem to get ticked off is, I think, the metric that says we're not advancing. I would say that this is not unique to any one party. This has been a long-standing problem.

Foreign Affairs committee  We can't answer that question unless we measure it. I will say that Canada has some of the best public servants in the world, but they are beleaguered and they don't have enough resources. We've had a tsunami of sanctions, and perhaps we need to put the brakes on and say that it's not about the number on the list.

Foreign Affairs committee  Well, I'm sure Craig Martin is going to have some advice on this as well, but there are a number of associations that provide sanctions training and certification. You take an examination. It goes through the EU, U.K. and U.S. sanctions. They often spend a day on Canada, usually on our blocking legislation for Cuba.

Foreign Affairs committee  I'm sorry; is that directed to me?

Foreign Affairs committee  I don't think we can overestimate how difficult it is to pull people together to get them trained. We don't have a culture of sanctions certification. The U.S., the U.K. and the EU have sanctions certification. People go on regular courses. It's recognized worldwide. Canada is a day as part of that certification, and too few of us take that certification.

Foreign Affairs committee  It's not onerous, because the information is readily available. It requires somebody to put it together. When you think about the formatting, the first time is going to be difficult. However, we have legions of really smart graduate students. You could throw them at this, and they would have this licked easily.

Foreign Affairs committee  May I start?

Foreign Affairs committee  I think you've hit the nail on the head. These testimonies have provided a lot of data, but it's not captured and it's not given to the public. This should become routine. Our other allies provide it. They say, “Here's a summary of our sanctions regimes for the year. Here's the number; here is who asked for delisting”, and the like.