The shift towards a value-based foreign policy began with Paul Martin and became dominant under Stephen Harper, whose stand against the Kremlin’s aggression in Ukraine and Russia’s appalling domestic human rights record is well known.
On the eve of the 2015 federal election, the Liberal Party made a commitment regarding the direction of their foreign policy on human rights under a Trudeau government. If elected, they promised to continue their “support for Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic integration and in particular, Ukraine’s admission into NATO,” and promised to “continue to strongly condemn Russia’s belligerent actions against Ukraine.” Russian human rights abusers were also put on notice by a Liberal commitment to adopt US-style Magnitsky legislation to place targeted sanctions – asset freezes and visa bans – on corrupt Kremlin officials and oligarchs.
After taking power, Liberal commitments towards a continued, robust, values-based foreign policy towards Eastern and Central Europe and Russia wavered. A policy of re-engagement with the Putin regime was undertaken by then Minister Stéphane Dion, causing concern among allies and outright alarm among Russian human rights activists.
In March 2016, the Kremlin immediately responded to the new approach “as outlined by Minister Dion, to end Canada’s self-isolation from Russia … [as] a timely and welcome development.” During Dion’s tenure, Canada would dial back criticism and reestablish relations with the Putin regime, and the Magnitsky legislation promised by the Liberal government would be shelved.
Former US Ambassador to Russia, and architect of Obama’s failed reset with Russia, Mike McFaul, publicly expressed his disappointment with Dion’s rejection of Magnitsky legislation. As he went on to say, “do you stand for human rights or not? If this is an important value then this is something that should be done.”
As domestic and foreign criticism of the government’s foreign policy mounted, a decision was made in January 2017 to reset Canada’s foreign policy when Justin Trudeau appointed Chrystia Freeland as Minister of Foreign Affairs.
For Kremlin watchers, it came as no surprise that she was quickly and viciously attacked by Kremlin propagandists when the change was made public. Shortly after the announcement, a Moscow-based, pro-Putin conspiracy theory website with alleged links to the KGB published an article intended to smear Freeland as a Nazi apologist – a classic Soviet-era tactic that has been re-adopted by the Kremlin with renewed venom. The Kremlin’s disinformation attack was briefly amplified by Canadian media before being identified and quickly condemned as a disinformation campaign cooked up by Moscow.
Much to the chagrin of the Kremlin and other repressive, authoritarian regimes around the world, Chrystia Freeland worked with both Conservatives and the NDP in late 2017 to help Parliament unanimously pass Magnitsky human rights sanctions legislation. This legislation was introduced as a Conservative private members bill in the Senate by Raynell Andreychuk and James Bezan in the House of Commons.
Canada’s Sergei Magnitsky Law made international headlines and inspired many Canadian allies to consider adopting their own Magnitsky legislation. Expectations for Canada to take a greater international leadership role have grown ever since.
Russian opposition activist and former chess grandmaster and world champion, Garry Kasparov, told me that “thanks to Chrystia Freeland, Canada has become a great spokesperson for the free world, which is currently without a real leader.” He continued, saying that he’s “confident that Canada can continue to grow in this role and take up the leadership that’s been forfeited by the US.”
Former Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves says that Freeland “is considered one of the few foreign ministers who both knows something – indeed a lot – about foreign affairs and has the courage to take a principled stand.”
The Minister’s latest announcement, to apply Canadian Magnitsky sanctions on the 17 Saudi nationals who are suspected of murdering journalist Jamal Khashoggi in their embassy in Istanbul, was welcomed by international human rights advocates and media.
Yet there is always room for improvement. The 17 Saudis are only the third group of names to be added to Canada’s Magnitsky list since the legislation was adopted in late 2017; 52 were initially added and one was added in February 2018, bringing the total to 70. Many obvious candidates are missing from our lists, including Vladimir Yakunin, the ultra-corrupt former head of Russian Railways who continues to elude Canada’s sanctions, despite being specifically named by the Liberals in a 2015 election commitment document as someone who should be sanctioned.
Monitoring and enforcement, both of which are as important to the deterrent effect of sanctions, have not been updated, and a broader implementation strategy is still “in the works.” It should be noted that the 2018 federal budget included $22 million “for the development of sanctions policy, coordination with international partners, and providing guidance to Canadians on sanctions obligations.”
Marcus Kolga, Toronto
Read original article here: MLI – CHRYSTIA FREELAND AND THE RETURN OF A PRINCIPLED CANADIAN FOREIGN POLICY: MARCUS KOLGA FOR INSIDE POLICY
