Photo: Social media image from Roberto Velasco Álvarez.
A Government of Mexico press release notes: “As a follow-up to the Mexico-Canada Action Plan recently agreed upon by President Claudia Sheinbaum and Prime Minister Mark Carney, the First Meeting of the Mexico-Canada Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (AEIMC) was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”
The meeting was led by Undersecretary for North America Roberto Velasco and Deputy Foreign Minister David Morrison.
Undersecretary Velasco Álvarez tweeted about the meeting here.
Along with Deputy Foreign Minister Morrison, the Canadian delegation included Cameron MacKay (Canadian ambassador to Mexico), Susan Pereverzoff (Minister Counselor for Political Affairs at the Embassy of Canada in Mexico), Ashraf Hassanein (director for Mexico and Trilateral Affairs), Tomás López (deputy director for Latin America and Promotion of Natural Resources Exports), Lana Edwards (in charge of the Directorate General of Bilateral Affairs and Trade, Environment and Climate Change of Canada); Jeffrey Biggs (Director General of Policy and Economics of the Land and Minerals Sector, Natural Resources Canada) and several others.
Photo: Social media image from Roberto Velasco Álvarez.
The press release adds: “Both delegations agreed to give continuity to the mechanism and hold the Second Meeting of the Mexico-Canada Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2026, which will be held in Canada.”
Protection Mechanism
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.
Notably, the Government of Canada has commented on the need to strengthen the Protection Mechanism. It did so at the United Nations (UN) Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Mexico in January 2024.
At the UN UPR session, Canada recommended that Mexico: “Strengthen, from an intersectional and gender perspective, the federal Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists, specifically in the areas of prevention, protection, investigation, and reparation.”
Prior to this session, Canada had also asked Mexico: “How will the new General law to respect, protect, guarantee, and promote the rights of human rights defenders and journalists address key challenges under the current mechanism, including in achieving results, improving federal-state-municipal cooperation, and promoting prevention of violence against human rights defenders and journalists?”
Just two weeks ago Canada also called on Honduras to strengthen its Protection Mechanism during another UN UPR session.
Canada stated: “Canada recommends that Honduras fully implement the National Protection Mechanism by establishing robust accountability measures for state authorities who fail to provide adequate protection to human rights defenders, including Indigenous rights defenders, environmental rights defenders, and journalists.”
PBI and Espacio OSC advocacy
This past September, Peace Brigades International and the Civil Society Space of Organizations (Espacio OSC) highlighted Canada’s position at meetings with Global Affairs Canada, Members of Parliament, and civil society allies.
We also met briefly with Maninder Sidhu, the Minister of International Trade, when he presented to House of Commons Standing Committee on International Trade.
Then in October, Stuart Trew, senior researcher at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), told the House of Commons Standing Committee on International Trade (CIIT): “In light of the new Canada-Mexico Action Plan, I think it would be beneficial to strengthen cooperation with Mexico in areas like human rights as well by supporting the Protection Mechanism for human rights defenders and journalists which is under the jurisdiction of the Mexican government. This benefits Canadian businesses by giving them greater assurances that their Mexican operations are not going to be involved perhaps involuntarily in human rights violations.”
This coming February 2026, we will continue to amplify this message about the Protection Mechanism when Dominic LeBlanc, Minister responsible for Canada-U.S. Trade, Intergovernmental Affairs, Internal Trade and One Canadian Economy, will lead a Team Canada Trade Mission (TCTM) to Mexico.
Further reading: Radio Canada International reports on PBI-Canada and PBI-Mexico advocacy visit with Espacio OSC on Protection Mechanism (November 5, 2025).
