Photo: Protest against CANSEC, May 28, 2025.
Order Paper Question Q-323 was submitted by Member of Parliament Heather McPherson on September 16, 2025.
The response was tabled on November 3, 2025.
Notable excerpts from that response include:
INVITATIONS
From the Canadian Commercial Corporation
From National Defence
From the Canadian Commercial Corporation
HUMAN RIGHTS ASSESSMENTS
From Global Affairs Canada
VISA PROCESSES
From Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
UN GUIDING PRINCIPLES
From Global Affairs Canada
ROLE PLAYED
From Global Affairs Canada
From the Canadian Commercial Corporation
FUNDING
From Global Affairs Canada
From the Canadian Commercial Corporation
Overview and comments
1- From the responses provided, four government departments appear to be involved in the invitation of foreign delegations to CANSEC: Canadian Commercial Corporation, Global Affairs Canada, Department of National Defence, Public Services and Procurement Canada – Government Contracts for Military (PSPC-GCMII).
2- There appears to be no formal human rights assessment done with respect to those invitations.
3- Global Affairs Canada and Public Services and Procurement Canada do not answer question (b) what delegations, from which countries, have been invited by the government to attend CANSEC? This despite the Order Paper Question suggesting that Global Affairs Canada was required to answer this question.
4- National Defence responds to question (b) by noting: “National Defence does not centrally track foreign delegations invited by the Department. These details would require a manual search that cannot be completed in the time allotted.”
5- The Canadian Commercial Corporation responds to question (b) only for the most recent CANSEC, indicating: Armenia, Argentina, Austria, Dominican Republic and Portugal.
6- Amnesty International reports from 2024 express concern that journalists and environmental defenders were being “threatened and harassed” in Armenia, that “repressive responses to public demonstrations increased” in Argentina, that “peaceful acts of civil disobedience were met with prison terms without due process” in Austria, the “unabated” harassment of human rights defenders in the Dominican Republic, and that “there were credible reports of torture and ill-treatment in prisons” in Portugal.
7- The response from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada does not suggest a rigorous scrutiny of the business temporary resident visa applications of international attendees to CANSEC.
8- Any application of international conventions including the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights appears to be weak.
9- Global Affairs Canada and the Canadian Commercial Corporation appear to play an active role in supporting foreign delegations at CANSEC.
10- Global Affairs Canada provided $125,000. in 2025-26 to the Canadian Association of Defence Industries (CADSI) for the purposes of CANSEC, while the Canadian Commercial Corporation provided $13,940. to CADSI and $236,228.41 to CANSEC. The expenditures from these two departments total $375,168.41. in 2025-26.
