Video still: Cameron MacKay, Ambassador of Canada to Mexico, speaks at the announcement of the trade mission to Canada.
CBC News reports: “A Mexican trade delegation is scheduled to launch a three city tour in Canada at the beginning of May that will also include bilateral trade talks between government officials, Mexico’s secretary of economy announced Thursday [March 12]. Secretary of Economy Marcelo Ebrard said the delegation would visit Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver between May 7 and 9.”
The article adds: “Mexico’s Foreign Affairs Secretary Juan Ramón de la Fuente said the upcoming trade mission to Canada is another step in strengthening the relationship between the two countries, building on a series of recent high-level visits — including Sheinbaum’s attendance at the G7 meeting last June in Kananaskis, Alta., and Prime Minister Mark Carney’s trip to Mexico in September. …Mexico’s planned visit [also] follows one of the largest Canadian trade missions ever in February which touched down in Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey.”
EFE also reports: “The tour will cover 10 sectors: infrastructure, agribusiness, patents and innovation, creative industries, investment funds, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, logistics, education and energy. The plan also contemplates facilitating regulatory approvals, accelerating patents, bringing Mexican startups closer to venture capital funds and creating a one-stop shop for SMEs between the two countries.”
Alicia Bárcena, the Secretary of the Environment for Mexico, was at this event.
El Ciudadano.mx notes: “Bárcena stressed that there is potential for mixed investments in the energy sector, particularly to expand renewable generation and move towards the national goal of 40% clean energy by 2030. He also expressed interest in learning about Canada’s experiences in the circular economy, especially in the management of waste, tires and plastics. The official stressed that environmental cooperation also includes the protection of the monarch butterfly, a species that inhabits protected natural areas in both countries. This joint work is part of the conservation actions that Mexico and Canada have maintained for decades.”
That article further reports: “In the economic sphere, Bárcena pointed out that there are currently 320 mining projects of Canadian origin in Mexico, operated by 128 companies present in 24 states of the country, which reflects the weight of this relationship in the extractive sector.”
Strengthening the Protection Mechanism
The sectors that will be highlighted in this trade mission – including infrastructure, agribusiness and energy – can bring risks for organizations, defenders and communities who raise concerns about their human rights and environmental impacts, as well as to the journalists who report these stories.
PBI-Canada, alongside PBI-Mexico and the Civil Society Space of Organizations (Espacio OSC), continues to highlight the importance of strengthening the Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists in Mexico.
It is in this context that we recall the Government of Canada has called for the strengthening of the Protection Mechanism during the United Nations (UN) Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Mexico in January 2024.
At that time, 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.”
The Carney Doctrine and responsible business conduct
We also recall that in early-February of this year, the Canadian Press reported: “[Randeep Sarai, the secretary of state for international development] says Ottawa wants to focus its international assistance efforts on countries that can generate economic spinoffs for Canadians.”
And just yesterday, former Liberal MP John McKay and former Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise Sheri Meyerhoffer wrote in The Hill Times: “Canada’s competitive strategy will no longer rest solely on trade access, natural resources, or capital markets. It will depend increasingly on how well we govern the social, environmental, technological, and geopolitical risks that shape economic performance.”
McKay and Meyerhoffer highlight: “Effective human rights’ due diligence is effective risk management.”
The ask for international cooperation
Prime Minister Carney’s statement of September 18, 2025, on the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with Mexico pledged “$9.9 million in funding for United Nations-led projects to support migrant integration initiatives in Mexico and combat the illicit production and trafficking of fentanyl.”
When PBI-Mexico accompanied Espacio OSC at meetings with Members of Parliament and Global Affairs Canada officials in Ottawa in September 2025, it was suggested that similar international cooperation to strengthen the Protection Mechanism for human rights defenders and journalists would be welcomed.
Human Rights Dialogue in May
The Mexican trade delegation is likely to precede the Mexico-Canada Dialogue on Human Rights and Multilateral Issues that is expected, according to the Embassy of Canada in Mexico, to take place after mid-May in Ottawa.
We remain attentive to this upcoming Dialogue as well.
We continue to follow this.
Further reading: PBI-Canada and PBI-Mexico meet with the Embassy of Canada in Mexico to highlight the need to strengthen the Protection Mechanism (February 27, 2026).
