Photo: Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs Roberto Velasco Álvarez will visit Canada at the end of November
PBI-Canada is attentive to the situation for human rights defenders in Mexico. Our partners at Front Line Defenders have documented that 43 human rights defenders were killed in Mexico in 2025. Global Witness noted that at least 10 land and environmental defenders were killed in Mexico last year.
Now, this Readout following a meeting between Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs at the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting indicates that an annual meeting under the Canada-Mexico Comprehensive Strategic Partnership will take place “at the end of November” in Canada.
The Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) was announced in September 2025 during Prime Minister Mark Carney’s visit to Mexico.
The CSP has nine working groups: Agri-business; Creativity and Culture; Energy; Environment; Forests; Human Capital; Maritime Connectivity; Mining; and Trade, Investment and Innovation.
There is not a specific “Human Rights” working group under the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, nor is there a specific reference to “human rights defenders” in the “Canada-Mexico Action Plan 2025-2028”.
Mexico-Canada Dialogue
There was a Mexico-Canada Dialogue on Human Rights and Multilateral Issues that took place in Ottawa this past May 20, 2026.
PBI-Canada was told by Global Affairs Canada officials that there was a 30-40 minute “substantive discussion” at this Dialogue in May 2026 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.
The report from the 2025 meeting also noted: “Discussions addressed concerns related to attacks on freedom of expression, the influence of social media in spreading hate and discrimination, and the risks faced by journalists and human rights defenders in Mexico and globally. Topics also included the increase of digital threats, the importance of cybersecurity, the issue of disappearances in Mexico, Mexico’s human rights protection mechanisms and the possibility of a database to monitor disappearances. Both countries agreed to share experiences regarding data protection and databases.”
Budget 2026
The Government of Canada tabled its “Masters of our destiny: Budget 2026” in the House of Commons on November 5, 2026. There does not appear to be any mention of “human rights” in the 532-page document.
Weeks prior to this, the Alternative federal budget 2026-27: Bridge to independence published by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives stated:
“The AFB will allocate funding for multilateral engagement, diplomacy, peace and stability, including for a Civil Peace Service (CPS) to promote human rights and peace on a long-term basis in crisis zones and conflict regions 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.”
Foreign policy update in November
The Canadian Press reports: “Canada’s aid sector is expressing dismay over the first federal budget in more than 15 years to make no mention of foreign aid, and is calling on Ottawa to outline its vision in an upcoming foreign policy review.”
That article notes that a foreign policy update is expected “in a matter of weeks” in the context of the government’s announcement last year to cut $2.7 billion in foreign aid over four years as direct spending on the military is expected to rise to $89 billion with an additional $52 billion for “defence infrastructure” in 2027-28.
PBI-Canada continues to call on the Government of Canada to help strengthen the Protection Mechanism for human rights defenders and journalists in Mexico. PBI-Canada also supports the call for the creation of a National Protocol for the Protection of Trade Unionists and Labour Rights Defenders in Mexico.
Further reading
–PBI-Canada seeks to get the Protection Mechanism on the agenda of the Mexico-Canada Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (PBI-Canada, December 1, 2025)
–PBI-Canada welcomes United Steelworkers report on strengthening Protection Mechanisms for trade unionists in Mexico (PBI-Canada, October 2, 2026)
–Alternative Federal Budget calls for strengthening of Protection Mechanism in Mexico, $100 million for a Civil Peace Service for crisis zones (PBI-Canada, September 17, 2026)
–The work continues one year after PBI-Mexico and Espacio OSC visited Ottawa to strengthen the Protection Mechanism for human rights defenders and journalists (PBI-Canada, September 20, 2026).
