Photo: Claudia Ignacio Álvarez, an Indigenous Purépecha human rights defender with the Human Rights Solidarity Network, in the UK, December 2025.
From February 15 to 20, Dominic LeBlanc, the 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.
It appears from the Government of Canada announced about this that the trade mission will focus on agriculture and processed foods, and agricultural technology, as well as advanced manufacturing, clean technologies and clean energy, creative industries, and information and communications technologies.
PBI-Canada will be following reports on this trade mission and assessing its implications for human rights defenders in Mexico.
According to Global Witness, Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries for land and environmental defenders and globally the agricultural sector is one of the deadliest for defenders.
Earlier this month, Claudia Ignacio Álvarez, an Indigenous Purépecha human rights defender with the Human Rights Solidarity Network (Red Solidaria de Derechos Humanos), also highlighted: “According to Global Witness, at least 36 defenders were attacked in Mexico between 2023 and 2024, most of them Indigenous. Few of these cases have seen meaningful progress in investigations. Carrying out sustained human rights work now means accepting serious personal risk.”
“Mexico would like to boost agricultural sales to Canada”
In September 2025, The Globe and Mail reported: “Mark Carney heads to Mexico this Thursday [September 18 for a two-day trip where he will meet] with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum at the National Palace in Mexico City.”
That article highlighted: “[A Mexican official speaking on background] said Mexico would like to boost agricultural sales to Canada…”
“Land dispossession, environmental destruction and violence”
Earlier this month, Claudia Ignacio Álvarez wrote in The Guardian about the situation in the Mexican state of Michoacán.
Álvarez writes: “Michoacán is one of Mexico’s leading export states for agricultural products. Avocados and berries are promoted internationally as symbols of healthy, sustainable consumption. Yet behind this lies a reality of land dispossession, environmental destruction and violence.”
She further comments: “The US, the main destination for Michoacán’s avocados and berries, plays a central role in sustaining this model. European and British markets are also implicated through imports, corporate finance and trade relationships that prioritise profit while ignoring conditions locally.”
PBI-Canada Research Unit
PBI-Canada is now engaging in research to more specifically determine if similar concerns can be expressed about Canada.
The marketing organization Avocados From Mexico (AFM) has previously highlighted that, after the United States, Canada is the second largest market for avocado exports from Mexico.
We continue to follow this.
Further reading: PBI-Mexico accompanied lawyer María Eugenia Gabriel Ruiz interviewed by El Pais, speaks about avocados and mining (October 25, 2024).
