One year ago today, a PBI accompanied advocacy delegation from Mexico arrived in Ottawa with a clear focus and commitment.
Starting on September 20, 2025, Manuel Jabonero Prieto, the advocacy coordinator for the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project, accompanied Héctor Hugo Arreola Galván and Elizabeth Guadalupe Mosqueda Rivera from the Civil Society Space of Organizations (Espacio OSC) in Ottawa to present proposals to strengthen the Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists.
We met with Members of Parliament including Judy Sgro and Yasir Naqvi (Liberal), Pierre-Simon Savard-Tremblay (Bloc Quebecois), Leah Gazan (NDP), Elizabeth May (Green) and Olivier Tremblay-Venneri in Michael Chong’s office (Conservative).
What have we seen happen since then?
1-On February 26, 2026, the Embassy of Canada in Mexico announced that it was co-creating “a feminist model of psycho-emotional support to protect” displaced women journalists through the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives that gives grants that average about CAD $45,000 (and up to CAD $100,000).
2- On May 20, 2026, the Proteger La Dignidad recommendations developed by the Espacio OSC coalition to strengthen the Protection Mechanism were shared by Global Affairs Canada officials with Mexican officials at the Mexico-Canada Dialogue on Human Rights and Multilateral Issues that took place in Ottawa.
César Villanueva Esquivel, the Director General for Human Rights and Democracy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, participated in this Dialogue.
3- There was a 30-40 minute “substantive discussion” at the Dialogue on freedom of expression and the protection of human rights defenders that acknowledged the growing threat to human rights defenders and journalists and that asked Mexican officials their understanding of how the Mechanism is working.
4- We learned that the preferred method for Global Affairs Canada to financially support the Protection Mechanism would be through a United Nations agency. During the advocacy tour we highlighted Canada’s $9.9 million funding to Mexico saying an equivalent amount should be given to the Protection Mechanism.
5- On July 17, 2026, Canada announced another $12.1 million in funding for projects in Mexico when Roberto Velasco, Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs, visited Ottawa. This suggests there is continued funding available that could be directed to support the strengthening of the Protection Mechanism.
We have also seen significant support from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) who the Espacio OSC delegation met with in Ottawa.
On October 9, 2025, CCPA senior researcher Stuart Trew 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.”
And on September 16, 2026, the CCPA published the Alternative Federal Budget (AFB) that proposed $100 million in annual funding for a Civil Peace Service (CPS) and “to strengthen the Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists in Mexico to address the threats they face from military and security forces.”
This is modest progress towards strengthening the Protection Mechanism and much work remains to be done.
This past June, Front Line Defenders documented in their report Global Analysis 2025/26 that at least 43 human rights defenders were killed in Mexico in 2025 in “an attempt to silence them and put an end to their work”.
And last week Global Witness documented in their report Collective power: The struggle for protection for land and environmental defenders that ten land and environmental defenders were killed in Mexico in 2025.
It is in their memory we continue our work in Canada alongside PBI-Mexico and Espacio OSC to strengthen the Protection Mechanism.
We continue to look for upcoming moments to highlight the need for Canada to financially and technically support the Protection Mechanism. This could include the next Mexico-Canada Dialogue on Human Rights and Multilateral Issues in May 2027; the next high-level meeting between Canadian and Mexican officials; with a longer-term view to the next Universal Periodic Review of Mexico in 2029.
