Foreign Affairs committee  The short answer to the last question is yes, I think it is possible. I think that the committee could rely on more international law experts on the one hand, because there's an international law aspect to this, and there's also a domestic law aspect. I really do think that Canadian individuals who are designated under these lists have rights issues that implicate domestic law.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you. It's been a pleasure.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you. I have to say that it would be very difficult to answer that robustly within two minutes, and I do recommend the report that I wrote. You're quite right, however. Whether it would be unlawful under international law or under domestic law would depend on which sanction and which context.

Foreign Affairs committee  I would agree with that. I think it's an incredibly important distinction, because I think there often is far too much emphasis on enforcement and looking at prosecution metrics when compliance is actually what you ought to be looking at. Indeed, sometimes there's over-compliance.

Foreign Affairs committee  I think that's really outside of my wheelhouse. I haven't done a lot of research in that area. As a Canadian lawyer, I have to say that my intuitive reaction is to resist federal oversight, but I don't really have an expert opinion on that. I'm sorry.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you. I do think that there is obviously a benefit in coordination. I think there is a fair amount of coordination now, but to your point, and getting back to the arguments that Professor Charron has been making about transparency and reporting, that's rather difficult to do in a coordinated fashion.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you. I'd probably agree with Professor Charron. I also think the importance of these kinds of reports and the kind of transparency Professor Charron is talking about.... She's absolutely right that the EU and the U.K. are far more advanced in this area than Canada. It's not just about measuring effectiveness, and by the way, when we talk about effectiveness, we have to stop and ask ourselves how we measure that when we don't necessarily even articulate objectives.

Foreign Affairs committee  When we say “cost-benefit analysis”, we have to differentiate what kinds of sanctions we're talking about. When we're talking about broad sanctions against Russia, for example, the cost-benefit analysis.... Again, you have to identify what your objective is. If the objective is to stop the war, these sanctions are not going to be effective.

Foreign Affairs committee  It's not exactly my area of research. I think that Professor Charron had her finger on the fact that when we think about enforcement, there tends to be this sort of focus on whether there are prosecutions, yet that sort of misses the point that sanctions often have their effectiveness in the way in which, for example, financial institutions refuse to process transactions or lawyers advise their clients not to engage in certain trade.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and honourable members of the House, for the invitation to appear before you today. It's really an honour to be here. At the outset, I would like to applaud the work that you are doing in conducting this important review of Canadian economic sanctions law and policy.