Héctor Hugo Arreola Galván and Elizabeth Guadalupe Mosqueda Rivera from the Civil Society Space of Organizations (Espacio OSC) in Mexico are in Ottawa with proposals to improve the Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists.
They are being accompanied by Manuel Jabonero Prieto, the advocacy coordinator for the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project, and Brent Patterson, the coordinator of Peace Brigades International-Canada.
The Mexican federal government and states operate protection mechanisms for journalists and human rights defenders. These mechanisms provide a range of protections including camera systems, panic buttons, police protection, and relocation assistance for human rights defenders and journalists under threat.
The key points of concern that Hugo and Elizabeth are bringing are crucial: at least 222 land and environmental defenders have been killed since 2012 (the year the Mechanism was implemented); 88 journalists have been killed since 2016; the Mechanism is underfunded (the annual budget of CAD $44.8 million was recently cut by 5 per cent); the Mechanism is understaffed (8 staff handle all applications and the evaluation/oversight of more than 2,000 case files); applications for protection are being denied (245 of 361 applications from human rights defenders were denied between January 2023 and July 2025); wait times for applications far exceed the 9 hours for emergency applications promised in law; the Mechanism does not recognize union activists as human rights defenders and does not disclose the number of Indigenous human rights defenders protected; and with billions of more dollars of Canadian investment in extractive industries sought through the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, there is great potential for more human rights violations.
Just some of activities have included:
SPEAKING WITH A CABINET MINISTER
Speaking with the Minister of International Trade, Maninder Sidhu, just after he presented to the House of Commons Standing Committee on International Trade along with the Minister responsible for Canada-U.S. Trade, Dominic LeBlanc.
MEETING WITH MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT
Meeting with Liberal Member of Parliament Judy Sgro, the Chair of the House of Commons Standing Committee on International Trade.
Meeting with Bloc Quebecois Member of Parliament Pierre-Simon Savard-Tremblay.
Meeting with New Democratic Party Member of Parliament Leah Gazan.
Meeting with Green Party Leader Elizabeth May.
Meeting with Olivier Tremblay-Venneri, legislative assistant to Conservative Member of Parliament Michael Chong.
Speaking with Liberal Member of Parliament Yasir Naqvi, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade and to the Secretary of State (International Development), after his appearance at the House of Commons Standing Committee on International Trade.
MEETING WITH GLOBAL AFFAIRS CANADA
Meeting with Global Affairs Canada officials including Rachelle Daley, Senior Desk Officer for Mexico, Genevieve Bourget, Deputy Director of the Mexico, Trilateral Affairs and North American Platform Program Division, and Laeba Khan, of the International Organizations and Human Rights Bureau, Human Rights and Freedoms Division.
MEETING WITH THE DEPUTY CANADIAN OMBUDSPERSON FOR RESPONSIBLE ENTERPRISE
Meeting with Terrence Cowl, the Deputy Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) and Elisabeth Wilson, the Director of Strategic Management. The CORE “reviews complaints about possible human rights abuses by Canadian companies when those companies work outside Canada in the garment, mining, and oil and gas sectors.” Their work also links with the National Contact Point (NCP) in Canada and Mexico City. The Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Guidelines call on companies to “pay special attention to potential harms from their business activity to human rights defenders among other marginalized and vulnerable groups.”
PRESENTING AT A UNIVERSITY
Presenting to Professor Meera Karunananthan’s “Environmental Studies 2001 Sustainable Futures” class and other interested students and faculty at Carleton University. The PowerPoint presentation shared can be found at Presentación.
SPEAKING AT A RALLY ON PARLIAMENT HILL
Speaking at the “A Day on Parliament Hill” rally that highlighted a Development and Peace-Caritas Canada petition signed by 52,000 people that calls on the House of Commons to “adopt human rights and environmental due diligence legislation that would require companies to prevent, report and remedy all violations of human and environmental rights throughout their global operations and supply chains; and establish a legal right for people who have been harmed to seek justice in Canadian courts.”
MEETING WITH UNION ALLIES
Meeting with Navjeet Sidhu, the Toronto-based Director of the Unifor International Department and Social Justice Fund. Unifor represents more than 320,000 members in Canada, including 10,000 media workers (journalists, camera operators, writers).
Meeting with Louise Casselman, Social Justice Fund Officer at the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC). The PSAC represents 240,000 workers, including members who work for the federal government, universities and community service agencies.
Meeting up again with Louise Casselman from the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) at the Oxfam Canada “Let’s Talk Palestine” solidarity cultural evening at Club Saw that featured musician-painter Jenn Grant.
MEETING WITH CIVIL SOCIETY ALLIES
Meeting with Stuart Trew, Senior Researcher at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), and Laura Macdonald, a Professor in the Department of Political Science and the Institute of Political Economy at Carleton University.
Meeting with Kathy Price, the Toronto-based National Coordinator of the Americas Policy Group (APG). The APG is a network of Canadian civil society organizations working for human rights and social and environmental justice in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Meeting with Aidan Gilchrist-Blackwood, the coordinator of the Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability (CNCA). The CNCA campaigns to pass a mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence law, empower Canada’s corporate watchdog, and end Canadian government support for corporate impunity.
Meeting with the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) in Ottawa. The PYM is a transnational, independent, grassroots movement of young Palestinians dedicated to the liberation of their homeland and people.
MEETING WITH DEFENDERS FROM GUATEMALA AND HONDURAS
Meeting with Marisol Guerra and Marta Muñoz, representatives from the Xinka Parliament in Guatemala, during their visit hosted by MiningWatch Canada. They are calling on the Canadian government to respect the Xinka People’s decision to seek the permanent closure of Pan American Silver’s Escobal mine.
Meeting with Melissa Torres, a Honduras-born artist living in Montreal, whose family has experienced first-hand the impacts of a Canadian mining company.
SPEAKING WITH THE MEDIA
Speaking with Paloma Martínez Méndez, a journalist with Radio Canada International (RCI), the international broadcasting service of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). RCI provides Canadian news to the world in seven languages.
Elizabeth and Hugo will also be speaking with Reuters bureau in Ottawa as well as Montreal-based independent journalist Lital Khaikin in the coming weeks.
REMEMBERING THE AYOTZINAPA 43
Commemorating at the Canadian Tribute to Human Rights monument in Nelson Mandela Square the 11th anniversary of the forcible disappearance of 43 students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers’ College on September 26, 2014.
MEETING WITH MEMBERS OF THE PBI-CANADA BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Dinner at A La Istanbul on Rideau Street with two Ottawa-based members of the Peace Brigades International-Canada Board of Directors.
ALSO
Visiting the Prime Minister’s Office and Parliament Hill.
Along with these activities, clear proposals have been developed for government officials and civil society allies, an op-ed has been written to be sent to The Hill Times…
…and as they head home to Mexico we have a detailed campaign plan for the coming weeks and months to achieve a strengthened Protection Mechanism.
Further reading: Espacio OSC conducts advocacy tour in Canada to raise awareness of the situation of defenders and journalists.
More photos
