Foreign Affairs committee  Of course, we were looking at divestment and the economics around that, and that does relate to the political situation. It was similar, I guess, to the discussion we just had with the panel on Burma, with respect to what Canada can do vis-à-vis the horrific situation going on in the Sudan. We look at the divestment policy kit. I wouldn't be against inviting other guests, but certainly the intent of the motion was to look at a very focused study on divestment.

Foreign Affairs committee  We're speaking on point number 3. We've already passed the Burma thing that we're doing today. We're discussing the second point here, because on what our steering committee has talked about with Sudan and Somalia, the one witness from the trade department isn't available.

Foreign Affairs committee  Our first responsibility here is to take a look at what our steering committee passed at the Tuesday meeting. I have a feeling that what we heard today with regard to Burma may be quite a bit of what we may hear with regard to Sudan--just to be aware of that. I will ask our clerk to explain. She has tried to get hold of different witnesses for the Sudan part.

Foreign Affairs committee  We'll be looking at that and at other things that Canada might do, hoping that we can remain in the forefront as we have. At the end of the day, if there's any glimmer of good news in this horrible story of Burma, it is the fact that countries like Canada have been taking rather extraordinary measures to show that even though we might be far away geographically, we're not missing any of those actions that they're taking against their people.

Foreign Affairs committee  Sure, because it is obviously very relevant. Burma is isolated from the international community. They are behaving in a way that only a very isolated country would, and that has been the case for quite some time now. At the same time, as you're alluding, they do have some relationships for commercial and other purposes that have allowed them to sustain the regime they've had in place, which is very controlling of their own population's wishes.

Foreign Affairs committee  I am not usually on this committee, but I would like to know what else Canada can do to support democracy and ensure respect for the law in Burma and likewise ensure respect for human rights. Since I am a neophyte in this area, I would very much like to understand what more Canada can do in future.

Foreign Affairs committee  In other words, I would appreciate knowing what companies have been captured by the SEMA vis-à-vis Burma. Is that information available to us as a committee? The fact that you brought in SEMA is great. I applaud it. I was hoping it would affect existing investments. I also think many Canadians would hope that it would deal with investments that some would say are a loophole through the indirect....

Foreign Affairs committee  It came into place, I believe, in 1992. We've used it in cases like Haiti and the former Yugoslavia, and in this case, in Burma. I'll just pose the question and then we can decide who should answer it. We could use SEMA to cover previous investments. What I see here now is a prohibition on new investment. Am I correct in saying that SEMA could be used to go after existing investments before the date it came into force most recently?

Foreign Affairs committee  But allow your eye to go to the next one, which is the prohibition on the provision of Canadian financial services to and from Burma. That's highly relevant to the disposition of current and existing investments.

Foreign Affairs committee  Certain actions were taken, then--pursuant to the SEMA--in order to address the situation in Burma, and those include an export and an import ban, effectively. The export ban is conditioned by the movement of humanitarian goods by fairly broad measures: an assets freeze; a ban on the transfer of technical data, which is a defined term that includes things like blueprints and other sorts of value-added goods; there are bans on investment, which we discussed earlier; a prohibition on provision of financial services; and then measures relating to both shipping and to the movement of airlines.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes. We don't have a bilateral development assistance program with Burma. That was cut off. That was one of the measures we took to express our displeasure with the way things were going some time ago. The question of how to support the democracy movement is a very delicate one, because anything you do in public or talk about in public imperils these people, who are already in danger, even more.

Foreign Affairs committee  Obviously Canada greatly supports the democratic movement in Burma.

Foreign Affairs committee  In the wake of this report, should Canada not, as did Norway, Denmark and the United States, demonstrate its interest in, and support for, the government in exile, that is, the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, and the committee representing the People’s Parliament? Would that not be a way for Canada to express its support directly?

Foreign Affairs committee  We nevertheless have discussions from time to time to check whether the actions of the Government of Canada are consistent with the hopes of the democratic movement in Burma.

Foreign Affairs committee  I want to move things along here, because we have guests, but I simply want it to be stated for the public record that I'd like to invite to the committee other guests from civil society, some of whom are present here today, to tell us from their perspective what is going on in Burma vis-à-vis the government's response and also any concerns they might have.