General Dynamics displays artillery shell implicated in controversial deal, Ottawa Police arrest 13 at protest against CANSEC arms show
Photo: General Dynamics display at CANSEC 2025.
On May 28, the Quebec-based company General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems-Canada posted on LinkedIn: “It’s a start to CANSEC 2025! Join us at booth #1203 to discover our products! #CANSEC2025”
They then posted: “This afternoon, our team is present at booth #1203 to present our products to CANSEC2025! Come and meet us! #CANSEC2025”
In both posts, their “Large Caliber Ammunition Propelling Charges For 155mm Artillery Projectiles” display is clearly visible. That display also notes: “M231/M232A1 Modular Artillery Charge System (MACS).”
Organized by the Global Affairs Canada-funded Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI), CANSEC is an annual arms show that takes place at the EY Centre in Ottawa. This year, the Day 1 Breakfast Keynote Speaker was Defence Minister David McGuinty. The Canadian Commercial Corporation, BAE Systems and representatives of the Israeli military are among the other 280+ exhibitors at CANSEC.
“155mm caliber artillery shells used extensively to attack Gaza”
The American Friends Service Committee has documented: “General Dynamics is also the only company in the U.S. that makes 155mm caliber artillery shells, which have been used extensively to attack Gaza. One source reported that, by Nov. 25, one Israeli brigade fired some 10,000 such shells using BAE’s M109 howitzer.”
They add: “155mm shells have been part of the U.S.’s recent weapons shipments to Israel. The U.S. is planning to send ‘tens of thousands of 155mm artillery shells that had been destined for Ukraine’ to Israel. Their use by Israel, according to Oxfam, is ‘virtually assured to be indiscriminate, unlawful, and devastating to civilians in Gaza.’ On Nov. 13, more than 30 organizations issued a letter opposing the transfer.”
Canadian Commercial Corporation signs contract
On March 26, 2025, Kelsey Gallagher of the Waterloo, Ontario-based Project Ploughshares also noted: “According to publicly available US Department of Defense (DOD) procurement records, in September 2024 a Canadian Crown corporation signed a contract to provide the US DOD with artillery propellants that will be supplied to Israel. This agreement was finalized while the intensive bombardment of Gaza continued, months before the signing of a ceasefire that ultimately collapsed in March 2025.”
Photo: The Canadian Commercial Corporation at CANSEC 2025.
Gallagher adds: “This agreement was signed after Canada announced that it was suspending arms exports to Israel, which authorities stated would explicitly include weapons transfers through the United States.”
And he further explains: “The September 2024 contract concerns the supply of M31A2 Triple Base propellant, a type of explosive fuel used to launch artillery shells. M31A2 propellant is specifically required in the 155mm M232A1 propelling charge, which is one of two charges used in the Modular Artillery Charge System (MACS). These charges are loaded into the breech of artillery systems prior to firing. GD-OTS-Canada’s Valleyfield plant is the sole source of this type of propellant for the US Army, which is responsible for supplying most munitions to US military aid recipients, including Israel.”
Canada a signatory to the International Arms Trade Treaty
Then on April 4, 2025, Alex Cosh of The Maple reported: “Mark Carney’s Liberal Party is avoiding questions about a Canadian company receiving a contract to supply the Israeli military with up to $78.8 million of artillery propellants, despite the Liberal government’s promise to block military exports to Israel last year.”
That article notes: “Canada is a signatory to the international Arms Trade Treaty, which prohibits the sale of military goods if there is a substantial risk of the goods being used to violate human rights or other international laws. However, the Canadian government does not apply those regulations to military exports to the U.S., a fact that critics have long flagged as a major loophole in Canada’s export control regime.”
International Court of Justice ruling
In January 2024, the United Nations International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a preliminary ruling in which the court found that it is “plausible” that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people.
After that ICJ ruling, Toronto-based law professors Heidi Matthews (Osgoode Hall Law School), Faisal A. Bhabha (York University) and Mohammad Fadel (University of Toronto) have commented: “The Export and Import Permits Act forbids arms permits to be issued if there’s a ‘substantial risk’ that the goods could be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian or human rights law. Because the ICJ found a serious risk of genocide in Gaza, continuing to export arms to Israel would be illegal. It would also be flagrantly inconsistent with Canada’s obligation to prevent genocide, and could expose Canada and Canadian officials to liability for participation in genocide.”
Any transfer of ammunition to Israel likely to violate the law
And in February 2024, thirteen UN Special Rapporteurs along with several Independent Experts and Working Group members issued a statement, endorsed by others including the Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders Mary Lawlor, that says: “Any transfer of weapons or ammunition to Israel that would be used in Gaza is likely to violate international humanitarian law and must cease immediately.”
Ottawa Police Service arrests 13 people at protest against CANSEC
An Ottawa Police media release presenting their view on the arrest of 13 people, including a medic and photo-journalist, outside CANSEC says: “At approximately 7:30 a.m., a group of 75–100 demonstrators gathered outside the EY Centre to protest an ongoing conference. The group moved into active traffic lanes, prompting the closure of Uplands Drive. …We remain committed to ensuring Ottawa is a safe, respectful, and inclusive city for all. Acts of hate or violence have no place in our community.”
Photo: “Participants were seen wearing identity-concealing clothing and masks, dumping paint on the roadway.”
Photo: “Despite several attempts by Police Liaison Teams to engage the group peacefully, officers on scene encountered assaultive behaviour.”
Mike Pompeo, US President Donald Trump’s former Secretary of State, was also a keynote speaker at CANSEC on the afternoon of May 28.
In June 2020, the Washington, DC-based Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) stated that the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) should investigate whether Pompeo had criminally obstructed investigations into his own potential ethics violations when State Department Inspector General Steve Linick was removed from his post while Linick’s office was investigating Pompeo for allegedly fast-tracking $8 billion in arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates without consulting the U.S. Congress.
We continue to follow this.
Further reading: Front Line Defenders documents the killing of 31 Palestinian human rights defenders, many by Israeli airstrikes (May 18, 2025).
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