Foreign Affairs committee  To begin, I'll look as well at paragraph 4 of article 21 of the convention. Canada's position on this is that it constitutes an exhaustive list of the activities that are prohibited in the context of a combined operation with a non-state party. Within that then, when we look at

Foreign Affairs committee  I have further clarification on who this would apply to. It certainly would apply to members of the Canadian Forces training with inert munitions that therefore wouldn't require a ministerial approval for something that isn't dangerous. So it's training to identify for the purpos

Foreign Affairs committee  To address that, Madam, universality of the prohibitions within the convention, universality of state membership, would be the ideal. It would certainly avoid any need for interoperability provisions within the convention itself or within the domestic legislation. This was an is

Foreign Affairs committee  As I said, within the Canadian armed forces that directive of the prohibition against transport will prevent transport within vehicles and vessels under our ownership or control. Transport itself would also potentially capture issues such as transit by a non-state party, which wo

Foreign Affairs committee  That is correct, sir, but the government and the Canadian Forces are on record as saying that this is the policy that will be implemented. And as indicated, violation of that policy that will be reflected in the Chief of the Defence Staff directive would give rise to penal sancti

Foreign Affairs committee  Ma'am, the reason for not including this is twofold. I'll speak to transport and I'll speak to assistance, or transport-related activities, separately. In either case, the convention itself does not prohibit that activity and the bill was drafted to include only those activities

Foreign Affairs committee  Sir, just to build on what has already been said, I think following ratification of the convention, Canada will have an international legal obligation to destroy stockpiles. The convention doesn't require that to be translated into domestic law of Canada. I would note that the am

Foreign Affairs committee  To provide further information, the stockpile awaiting destruction is 12,597 rounds of 155-millimetre artillery shells, dual-purpose improved conventional munitions. The convention would permit the retention of a small number of those for the purpose of training in clearance or d

Foreign Affairs committee  I would stress, though, sir, that those munitions have been removed from operational stockpiles since 2007.

Foreign Affairs committee  If I can add to that, the legislation does not prohibit transit because the convention itself does not prohibit transit. However, the legislation does not detract in any way from all of the applicable Canadian legislation that would apply to the transit of munitions through our t

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, it does. It allows for the importation of cluster munitions for the purpose of destruction. My understanding is that there are no current facilities in Canada that would be interested in pursuing that, but the convention permits that, and so the legislation has been drafte

Foreign Affairs committee  The legal challenge there is that although the policy decision to arm those aircraft with cluster munitions would be that of another state, once that aircraft shows up the pilot would likely be in communication with the individual on the ground and would be given the choice to au

Foreign Affairs committee  Again, I can't comment on the legislation or the policy decisions of other states to restrict their reliance on article 21. I can simply say that the convention itself permits that and that the permissions—again, not permissions of specific acts and specific scenarios but the pro

Foreign Affairs committee  That is correct, and the reference to indiscriminate attacks comes from Protocol I additional to the Geneva Conventions, and is as well part of customary international humanitarian law. I think on this point more broadly, it is important to note that there are scores of differen

Foreign Affairs committee  I don't have much to add to that, except to note that there is a provision in both the convention and Bill C-6 that would prevent a Canadian in that position from expressly requesting the use of cluster munitions, should the choice of munitions used be within the exclusive contro