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Suspending the export of Canadian “military goods” to Israel should also include addressing their transfer via the United States

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: The House of Commons.

On Monday March 18th, the House of Commons will be voting on this motion that includes the call for Canada to “suspend all trade in military goods and technology with Israel and increase efforts to stop the illegal trade of arms, including to Hamas.”

The Global Affairs Canada report on exports of military goods (generally published in May of each year) says that in 2022, the most recent year available, Canada exported $21,329,783.93 of these goods to Israel.

Global Affairs Canada must table the complete 2023 figures by May 31 of this year, but we already know some important information via Alex Cosh at The Maple.

Last month, Cosh reported: “The Trudeau government authorized at least $28.5 million of new permits for military exports to Israel during the first two months of the state’s brutal war on Gaza, data supplied to The Maple by Global Affairs Canada (GAC) shows.”

Photo: On February 1, 2024, access to the Port of Vancouver was blocked to demand Canada impose an arms embargo on Israel. Organizer Maryam Adrangi said: “Shipping weapons to Israel makes Canada complicit in genocide.”

Significantly, the Waterloo, Ontario-based peace research institute Project Ploughshares has also estimated that the total value of contracts for Canadian military exports to the United States at well over $1 billion annually.

Public transparency and accountability for those exports is pertinent to the debate in the House of Commons on Monday. It is fair to ask, how much of the $1 billion in exports of Canadian military goods to the United States is re-exported to Israel?

The United States Department of State has noted that as of October 2023, the US has 599 active Foreign Military Sales (FMS) (government-to-government sales) cases valued at $23.8 billion with Israel, that from 2018 to 2022, the US authorized the export of $12.2 billion of “defence articles”  via the Direct Commercial Sales (DCS) process (that oversees sales between US companies and foreign governments), and that since 1992 the US has provided Israel with $6.6 billion worth of military-related equipment under the Excess Defense Articles (EDA) program.

The Council on Foreign Relations has also explained that the United States provides Israel with approximately $3.3 billion a year in grants under the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program, noting that these are “funds that Israel must use to purchase U.S. military equipment and services.”

Photo: On November 6, 2023, activists temporarily blocked a US military supply ship from picking up weapons in Tacoma, Washington destined for Israel. Photo by Genna Martin/Crosscut.

Regulatory void

Kelsey Gallagher from Project Ploughshares highlights: “The exemptions afforded to Canadian military transfers to the United States, and eventually to Israel, reveal a larger problem. The associated lack of transparency means that the scope of the issue – that is, the extent to which other Canadian components are being filtered through the United States to Israel – is totally unknown.”

Canadian components in Israeli F-35s

What can be pieced together is worrisome.

Gallagher has written: “An April 2018 study commissioned by Lockheed Martin outlining the economic impact of F-35 production on the Canadian economy stated that ‘there is $2.3 million USD [approximately C$3.1-million] worth of Canadian components on every F-35 jet manufactured.’”

Photo: An Israeli F-35I with four bombs in the foreground.

The Globe and Mail newspaper has also reported: “Israel’s arsenal includes F-35 fighters and Canada has contributed components to every F-35, according to the Canadian government. The Canadian-made components that go into each F-35 don’t show up in Ottawa’s records of military exports because they are shipped to the U.S., where the aircrafts’ manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, is based, and Global Affairs does not publish the full value of annual military exports to the U.S.”

Last month, a Dutch appeals court ordered the government of the Netherlands to stop shipments of components for F-35s to Israel because as cited in their ruling: “There is a clear risk that the F-35 fighter jets are used by Israel to commit serious violations of humanitarian law in the Gaza Strip.”

Recommendations

Project Ploughshares has made three recommendations (on pages 10-11 of their report Fanning the Flames ) to address this situation, including: “As required by Article 4 of the ATT [Arms Trade Treaty], close loopholes that allow the unregulated and unreported transfer of military goods to Israel through the U.S. Department of Defense.”

Canadian fuel in Israeli tanks and warplanes?

Similarly, The Guardian also recently reported: “Israel relies on crude oil and refined products from overseas to run its large fleet of fighter jets, tanks and other military vehicles.”

One of the suppliers of this fuel is the United States.

Significantly, the United States imported 4.36 million barrels of crude oil per day from Canada in November 2023.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) has also noted: “Some of the crude oil that the U.S. imports is refined by U.S. refineries into petroleum products—such as gasoline, heating oil, diesel fuel, and jet fuel—that the U.S. later exports.”

Given Canada is the largest single source of US petroleum and crude oil imports, how much of that is being re-exported to fuel Israel’s military?

CANSEC arms show, May 29-30

Beyond the vote in the House of Commons on Monday, a key moment will be the CANSEC arms show in Ottawa this coming May 29-30.

This will be a moment when Israel (Booth M7), Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest military manufacturer (Booth 1421/M10), the Canadian Commercial Corporation, that facilitates the sales of Canadian military goods abroad (Booth 225/M18/M17) and the largest weapons companies profiting from the attack on Gaza (including Lockheed Martin – Booth 1311, Boeing – Booth 1821/TBD, Raytheon – Booth 1221 and General Dynamics – Booth 1203/M3, 1301, 1601/3034) will be present.

Photo: Protest at CANSEC, 2023.

PBI

Peace Brigades International (PBI) calls on the international community to suspend the supply of arms to Israel and the armed groups involved in the conflict.

We continue to follow this.

We also highlight that Murray Thomson who co-founded Peace Brigades International in 1981 was also a co-founder of Project Ploughshares in 1976 and a regular participant in the protests against the CANSEC arms show.

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PBI-Mexico present at International Women’s Day march in Cuernavaca, Morelos where femicides continue

By
Brent Patterson
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On March 15, PBI-Mexico posted on Instagram and Facebook:

“A week ago, we were present as international observers at #M8 [International Women’s Day] in #Cuernavaca. From PBI, we accompany women demanding an end to impunity in cases of rape, disappearances and violence against them. We demand guarantees for their #HumanRIghts.”

Cuernavaca is the capital and largest city of the state of Morelos. It is located about 90 kilometres south of Mexico City.

24 Morelos reported: “This Friday, March 8, hundreds of women marched in Cuernavaca, in commemoration of International Women’s Day. Banners such as ‘Today I march with my daughter so that tomorrow I won’t march for her’ and ‘Abusers also disguise themselves as best friends’ could be read. The march began at the Niño Artillero traffic circle, passing through Morelos Avenue and ending at the Zócalo of Cuernavaca.”

The history of IWD and femicides in Morelos

And La Jornada Morelos noted the history of International Women’s Day, beginning with the first IWD march on March 8, 1999. It then recounts:

“It was in 2003 that an event occurred that would move consciences and lay the foundations for the first women’s groups that would promote the feminist struggle in Morelos for women’s rights and the elimination of violence. A woman was found lifeless and with signs of torture on Humboldt Street in downtown Cuernavaca, very close to the Government Palace, the official seat of the Executive Branch and the Congress of Morelos. At the same time, some feminists, such as Marcela Lagarde, argued that it should be classified as femicide.

In 2008 they constituted the Committee Against Femicides (COCOFEM), which generated an important articulation and allowed artistic manifestations to be held to make visible violence against women and its maximum expression represented in femicides.

In December 2018, María Fernanda Estefanía Toledo Cervantes, 19, a medical student and daughter of the director of the Faculty of Law of the Autonomous University of the State of Morelos (UAEM), was kidnapped and murdered. Her femicide and this new threat brought together the university students and academics who made up the collective Vivas Nos Quiero and for the first time called for a protest on their own.

On February 9, 2020, the femicide of Ingrid Escamilla occurred in Mexico City, shook the entire country. The indignation touched many women and in Morelos.

In Morelos, the murders of women became a constant and have risen steadily, from 2000 to date there have been more than 1,450 femicides, according to data from various feminist collectives.”

This continues

On March 10, La Jornada reported:

“The body of a woman with signs of violence was found this morning on a dirt road in the town of Buena Vista de Cuernavaca, police sources reported. With this woman murdered, according to the organization Divulvadoras, it would be the 21st femicide registered so far this year in this state. This lifeless woman was found two days after March 8, International Women’s Day, and when more than 10,000 women came out to demand that the three branches of government cease femicides in this state.”

Further reading: PBI accompanies International Women’s Day in Colombia, Honduras, Guatemala, Kenya, Costa Rica, the UK and Canada (March 10, 2024)

Israel reportedly seeks to import about 30 armoured vehicles made by Brampton, Ontario-based Roshel Inc.

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: An Israeli police armoured vehicle drives by as Palestinian Muslim worshipers who were prevented from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque pray outside Jerusalem’s Old City, November 11, 2023. Photo by AP.

The CBC reports: “The federal government is deliberately slow-walking a request from Israel for permission to import Canadian-made armoured patrol vehicles, two sources tell Radio-Canada.”

Some reactions on social media to this story.

The article notes that shortly after October 7, 2023, the Israeli government sent a request to the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for clearance to import about thirty armoured patrol vehicles.

The article continues: “When asked if approving an export visa for the armoured vehicles would violate Canada’s legal obligations, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau refused to comment.”

It then highlights: “Roshel Inc., the company that makes the armoured vehicles, said it’s been waiting for the government to make a decision on the permits for months. ‘It is our understanding that these vehicles are not to be used for military purposes, but solely for domestic police operations. This has been communicated to the government of Canada,’ the company said in an emailed statement.”

Israeli police violence

In 2016, Amnesty International stated: “Amnesty International, other human rights organizations and even the U.S. Department of State have cited Israeli police for carrying out extrajudicial executions and other unlawful killings, using ill treatment and torture (even against children), suppression of freedom of expression/association including through government surveillance, and excessive use of force against peaceful protesters.”

In June 2021, The Guardian reported: “The latest flare-up of violence in the Gaza Strip has been accompanied by a ‘catalogue of violations’ committed by Israeli police against Palestinians in Israel and occupied East Jerusalem, according to research from Amnesty International.”

And in January 2024, The Guardian noted numerous cases of Israeli police violence including: “the killing of Sanad Salem al-Harbad, a Bedouin man who was allegedly shot twice in the back by Israeli police in March 2022; the killing of Ahmad Jamil Fahd, who was allegedly shot by police and left to bleed to death by a unit of undercover Israeli agents; the alleged assault in Israeli police custody of journalist Givara Budeiri; the 2020 killing of a 32-year-old unarmed autistic man Eyad al-Hallaq by Israeli police in East Jerusalem; the killing of a 15-year-old boy named Mohammed Hamayel; and the shooting of 16-year-old Palestinian Jana Kiswani.”

Photo of an Israeli police armoured vehicle in the West Bank. Photo by Wisam Hashlamoun/Flash90.

Business obligations

The Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations in 2011, cautions: “The responsibility to respect human rights is a global standard of expected conduct for all business enterprises wherever they operate. It exists independently of States’ abilities and/or willingness to fulfil their own human rights obligations, and does not diminish those obligations. And it exists over and above compliance with national laws and regulations protecting human rights.”

This responsibility extends to companies that build weapons, the components for weapons systems and other “military goods”, such as armoured vehicles.

CANSEC, May 29-30

Roshel Defence Solutions is listed as an exhibitor (Booth 1321) at the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI) organized CANSEC arms show scheduled to take place this coming May 29-30 at the EY Centre in Ottawa.

“Israel Representatives” are also listed as an exhibitor (Booth M7).

Perhaps by the time of CANSEC in 2.5 months there will be greater clarity on the status of this sale of armoured vehicles.

To read the CBC article, go to Ottawa slow-walking Israel’s request for permission to import armoured vehicles: sources (March 14, 2024).

PBI calls for respect for international law, protection of human rights defenders and an immediate cease-fire in Gaza (Peace Brigades International statement, February 28, 2024). It notes: ” We call on the international community to suspend the supply of arms to Israel and the armed groups involved in the conflict.”

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Texas-based Western LNG intention to proceed with PRGT pipeline raises concerns about the C-IRG on Gitxsan territory

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: On March 6, Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs called for the government to disband C-IRG. Photo by Amanda Follett Hosgood.

The Narwhal reports: “The Prince Rupert Gas Transmission project would connect Montney gas to Ksi Lisims, a proposed liquefaction and export facility on Nisga’a territory. Approved by the B.C. government around the same time as Coastal GasLink, the pipeline would span around 900 kilometres and cross the Kispiox and Skeena rivers and traverse Nilkitkwa Lake at the headwaters of the Babine River.”

The article continues: “TC Energy has until the end of 2024 to put enough work into the project to receive a ‘substantially started’ designation, which would secure its environmental assessment certificate indefinitely.”

It has also been noted: “The certificate expires in November.”

While PRGT has previously been described as “a zombie pipeline that hasn’t moved forward since 2014”, the announcement this week of the planned purchase by Houston, Texas-based Western LNG and the Nisga’a Nation could change that.

Yesterday, Davis Thames, chief executive of Western LNG, stated: “We want to acknowledge TC Energy’s efforts developing the project to this point. PRGT is fully engineered, permitted and ready to construct … We will move this critical project forward with renewed momentum and a fresh perspective.”

The Gitxsan want the C-IRG disbanded

The PRGT pipeline would cross Gitxsan territory.

This week, Kai Nagata of the Dogwood Institute wrote: “Leaders from both nations [Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en] rallied outside the courthouse while Dtsa’hyl’s lawyers spoke inside. They’re calling for the RCMP’s controversial injunction enforcement unit, the Community-Industry Response Group, to be disbanded.”

In his article, Nagata quotes Gordon Sebastian, the executive director of the Gitxsan Treaty Society, who says: “The C-IRG, they’re all trigger-happy people. And that authority they have is the injunction, and it’s a licence to kill. We do not want to see that here on the Gitxsan territories and the Wet’suwet’en.”

On March 9, 2023, the Terrace Standard reported: “Gitxsan hereditary chiefs issued a notice this week prohibiting the RCMP’s ‘militarized squadron’ called the Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) from Gitxsan lands centered on the Hazelton area.”

A week later, CBC reported: “The RCMP says it will not commit to respecting a Gitxsan hereditary chiefs’ decision banning the Mounties’ Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) from unceded lands in northwest B.C.”

Then in October 2023, Radio-Canada reported: “In a letter sent to the Supreme Court, the Office of the Hereditary Chiefs of the Gitxsan Nation [stated] ‘We believe that the continued use of terror by the [C-IRG] will eventually result in an accident or intentional death of an Aboriginal person, potentially a woman or a child. This is not acceptable.’”

In November 2023, the Gitxsan Huwilp Government stated: “Industry-led injunctions ordered by the BC Supreme Court Chief Justice to allow the looting of indigenous lands must stop. Further, the RCMP volunteering to deploy the [C-IRG] – which is under investigation for corruption – as a military solution to perpetrate industry greed must stop. For the RCMP to extinguish indigenous peoples’ fulsome rights on their lands, threaten our lives, terrorize our women and children, weaponize our land defense is indefensible.”

The Gitxsan have rallied in Vancouver (on October 11, 2023), Smithers (on November 21, 2023) and as noted above in Smithers (on March 6, 2024).

The PRGT and the C-IRG

Given the role C-IRG violence (now under “systemic investigation”) played in the completion of the Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline on Wet’suwet’en territory, Gitxsan opposition to the C-IRG and increasingly to the PRGT pipeline, and now the new momentum to move forward with this pipeline and a November 2024 deadline for a “substantial” start to the project, we remain attentive to the concern of continued C-IRG violence.

For more, please see: PBI-Canada hosts webinar on Gitxsan and Gitanyow resistance to colonial mega-projects (March 7, 2024).

Could the Israeli warplanes bombing Gaza be fueled by petroleum exports to the United States from Canada?

By
Brent Patterson
-

Photo: An Israeli Air Force member prepares an F-35I Adir for takeoff from Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, March 16, 2023.

The Guardian reports: “Israeli jets and tanks bombarding Palestinians are being fueled by some of the world’s most profitable fossil fuel companies [according to research by Data Desk commissioned by Oil Change International]. Israel relies on crude oil and refined products from overseas to run its large fleet of fighter jets, tanks and other military vehicles.”

The article adds that this supply chain relies heavily on fossil fuels from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Brazil, Gabon and the United States.

The article also notes that one ship with JP8 jet fuel left the US for Israel on December 6, 2023, after more than 16,000 Palestinians had been killed, and another departed on February 9, 2024, two weeks after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) interim ruling that Israel could plausibly be committing genocide against Palestinians.

Tweet by Oil Change International.

Canadian crude oil and jet fuel exports to the United States

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) notes: “Canada is now the largest single source of U.S. total petroleum and crude oil imports. In 2022, Canada was the source of 52% of U.S. gross total petroleum imports and 60% of gross crude oil imports.”

Significantly, it further notes: “Some of the crude oil that the U.S. imports is refined by U.S. refineries into petroleum products—such as gasoline, heating oil, diesel fuel, and jet fuel—that the U.S. later exports.”

The Canadian Energy Centre also says: “While Canadian oil and gas exports currently go almost exclusively to the U.S., once they enter the integrated pipeline system, they can become so-called ‘re-exports’ from U.S. Gulf Coast to overseas markets.”

And the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) industry association has documented: “In 2020, U.S. imports of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other refined products from Canada averaged more than half a million barrels per day, or more than 8 billion gallons in total for the year.”

Overall, the United States imported 4.36 million barrels of crude oil per day from Canada in November 2023.

Complicity

The Guardian article highlights: “Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has continued since the ICJ ordered the Israeli government to prevent any genocidal act. The ICJ ruling has legal implications for countries and corporations, which must ensure they are not complicit in genocidal acts. Human rights experts said that countries and corporations supplying oil to Israeli armed forces may be complicit in war crimes and genocide.”

The research suggests those companies include BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell and TotalEnergies.

David Boyd, an associate professor of law, policy, and sustainability at the University of British Columbia and the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment, says: “The countries and companies that have continued to supply oil to the Israeli military since the decision of the international court of justice are contributing to horrible human rights violations and may be complicit in genocide.”

Other areas of concern

Apart from the possibility of Israeli warplanes being fuelled by exports from Canada, there is also the concern about component parts.

The Globe and Mail newspaper has previously reported: “Israel’s arsenal includes F-35 fighters and Canada has contributed components to every F-35, according to the Canadian government. The Canadian-made components that go into each F-35 don’t show up in Ottawa’s records of military exports because they are shipped to the U.S., where the aircrafts’ manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, is based, and Global Affairs does not publish the full value of annual military exports to the U.S.”

Last month, a Dutch appeals court ordered the government of the Netherlands to stop shipments of components for F-35s to Israel because as cited in their ruling: “There is a clear risk that the F-35 fighter jets are used by Israel to commit serious violations of humanitarian law in the Gaza Strip.”

Other areas of concern that have been highlighted in articles and petitions include Canada’s military exports to Israel (Trudeau Government Authorized $28.5 Million Of New Military Exports To Israel Since October, The Maple), Canada’s purchase of missiles from Israel (Canadian Military Buying $43 Million Of Israeli Missiles Used In Gaza Attacks, The Maple), and Scotiabank’s shares in Elbit Systems Ltd., the largest Israeli weapons company (Tell Scotiabank to Divest Now from Elbit Systems, The Action Network).

Yesterday, the Toronto Star reported: “Canada stopped approving exports of non-lethal military goods and technology to Israel two months ago [on January 8] amid deepening concerns about possible human rights violations.” This comes from an anonymous source at Global Affairs Canada and is yet to be verified.

House of Commons debate, March 18

On Monday March 18th, the House of Commons will be voting on a motion that calls on the Government of Canada to demand an immediate ceasefire and the release of all hostages and to suspend all trade in military goods and technology with Israel and increase efforts to stop the illegal trade of arms, including to Hamas. It is possible during that debate that the issue of fuel exports may also be raised.

Sources

The Guardian article can be read in full at Revealed: How the global oil industry is fueling Israel’s war on Gaza. The research report, commissioned by Oil Change International and done by Data Desk, can be read here.

The Peace Brigades International statement on Gaza can be read here.

PBI-Guatemala accompanied river defender Bernardo Caal Xol marks the International Day of the fight against Dams

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: On May 10, 2023, Caal Xol marched to the Spanish Embassy in Guatemala City to demand sanctions against those who have violated the rights of Q’eqchi’ peoples including Spanish businessman Florentino Perez and his company Cobra SA, a subsidiary of the Madrid-based Grupo ACS.

PBI-Guatemala accompanied Maya Q’eqchi’ water defender Bernardo Caal Xol has tweeted: “Today is the International Day of the fight against Dams. Our Rivers are sacred, water and blood of Mother Earth. Water is life and not a commodity.”

International Rivers highlights: “The International Day of Action for Rivers is a day dedicated to solidarity – when diverse communities worldwide come together with one voice to affirm that rivers are vital and need our protection.”

They further note: “The International Day of Action Against Dams and For Rivers, Water and Life was adopted by the participants of the first International Meeting of People Affected by Dams, March 1997 in Curitiba Brazil. Representatives from 20 countries decided that the International Day of Action would take place on March 14 – Brazil’s Day of Action Against Large Dams. Our aim on this International Day of Action for Rivers, is to raise our voices in unison against destructive water development projects, reclaim the health of our watersheds, and demand the equitable and sustainable management of our rivers.”

The fight against the Oxec III dam

Caal Xol is a leader in the Peaceful Resistance of Cahabon and their struggle against the Oxec dams on their territory without free, prior and informed consent.

The Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project has previously explained: “The Peaceful Resistance of Cahabón is made of more than 190 Q’eqchi’ communities who live in the Cahabón River basin. Since 2015 they have organized around defense of territory and against the launch of the OXEC I and OXEC II hydroelectric projects installed on the Oxec River, a tributary of the Cahabón River.”

REMEZCLA has reported: “Due to construction of a pair of dams, Oxec I and Oxec II, water along the river has either been contaminated or has dried up, leaving the region’s roughly 30,000 Q’eqchi in danger. The company behind the dam project is the Spanish Grupo Cobra, owned by Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez; he visited the site of the project site in 2014 to initiate construction.”

As noted above, Cobra is a subsidiary of Grupo ACS which also has subsidiaries in Canada, including ACS Infrastructure Canada, Inc. in Toronto.

In April 2023, Power Technology noted: “Oxec III is a 75MW hydro power project. It is planned on Cahabon river/basin in Alta Verapaz. The project construction is likely to commence in 2025 and is expected to enter into commercial operation in 2027.”

On May 10, 2023, PBI-Canada observed a march by the Peaceful Resistance of Cahabón in Guatemala City that included a banner that read: “We demand that the Oxec 3 licence be cancelled.”

Breakbulk Magazine has previously reported Hatch’s Ontario, Canada-based project manager for Oxec II Hooman Ghassemi “finished the conceptual design for Oxec III [in 2017].” Hatch was founded in Toronto, Canada, by W.S. Atkins as W.S. Atkins & Associates in 1955. It has offices around the world with its headquarters in Mississauga, Ontario.

Caal Xol at the UN in Geneva

Caal Xol also recently tweeted: “At the invitation of international Human Rights organizations, we were at the UN to continue denouncing human rights abuses in Guatemala. We met with Rapporteurs and urged them to carry out the protocols to visit Guatemala and verify our complaints.”

Photo: Clement Voule (Special Rapporteur on freedom of peaceful assembly and of association), Caal Xol, Luis Pacheco (from Totonicapán, Guatemala) and Kerstin Reemtsma (PBI-Guatemala).

PBI-Guatemala has accompanied the Peaceful Resistance Cahabón since July 2017.

Photo: Maya Q’eqchi environmental defender Bernardo Caal Xol spent four years in prison for his peaceful resistance to dams being built on ancestral territory without consent. He was released from prison in March 2022. PBI-Canada met with him on May 5, 2023, in Cobán, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala.

RCMP C-IRG assisted North Vancouver detachment after injunction prohibits protests on highway overpass

By
Brent Patterson
-

Photo: The RCMP C-IRG assisted the North Vancouver RCMP detachment when pro-2SLGBTQIA+ activists counter-protested anti-SOGI demonstrators in July 2023. Photo by Nick Laba / North Shore News.

Following Amanda Follett Hosgood reporting in The Tyee that RCMP Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) officers supported local police at rallies in southern British Columbia, most likely in October 2023, in opposition to Israel’s attack on Gaza, Vancouver Is Awesome now reports that C-IRG officers also assisted a local RCMP detachment with a protest in North Vancouver in July 2023 that had been organized by opponents of sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) lessons in schools.

The full story can be read at Controversial RCMP unit aided local detachment during North Vancouver overpass protests.

Bob Mackin explains in the article:

“A senior officer from the Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) contacted an operations manager with the province’s highways department, after a judge granted the B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure an injunction last May aimed at stopping weekly protests on the Mountain Highway overpass above Highway 1.

‘One of the functions of this unit is addressing injunctions within the province,’ explained Staff Sergeant Jason Charney in a July 6 email to Michael Braun, obtained under the freedom of information law.

‘I have been tasked with assisting the North Vancouver RCMP detachment with the injunction which is currently in place for the Mountain Highway overpass. I was hoping that we could meet next week and go over the injunction.’

The remainder of the paragraph was censored because the ministry feared disclosure would reveal information about policy advice and law enforcement.”

Photo: Staff Sgt. Jason Charney at Fairy Creek, August 2023.

Video: Charney on Wet’suwet’en territory, October 9, 2021.

The article then quotes Const. Mansoor Sahak, public information officer with the North Vancouver RCMP, who says:  “CRU-B.C. did assist last July but generally they are called upon by detachments to assist with large protests.”

CRU-B.C. refers to the “Critical Response Unit-British Columbia”, the rebranded (but seemingly still not officially announced) name for the C-IRG.

The article also quotes S. Sgt. Kris Clark, spokesperson for the B.C. RCMP, who says: “While originally created to respond to gas and pipeline-involved protests, the C-IRG has been deployed to logging protests, homelessness protests, has overseen anti-COVID mandate demonstrations (a.k.a. convoy) and been deployed to natural disaster events across the province including floods and seasonal wildfires as well.”

The Tyee has previously reported that Staff Sgt. Clark says the C-IRG’s approach to public disorder has been adopted as a “national best practice”.

This despite a “systemic investigation” of the C-IRG by the federal Civilian Review and Complaints Commission (CRCC). The Ottawa-based CRCC began its investigation more than a year ago after receiving nearly 500 complaints about the C-IRG. The CBC has reported: “More than 100 grievances accepted for investigation contain allegations of excessive force, illegal tactics, unprofessional behaviour, racism, discrimination and charter violations.”

Photo: An open letter calling for the suspension of C-IRG deployments during the systemic investigation was delivered to the CRCC on March 22, 2023.

C-IRG rebranding, expanding

The rebranding and expansion of the mandate of the C-IRG does not suggest it will stop intervening against Indigenous and community land defence struggles against oil and gas pipelines and the logging of old-growth forest.

It remains unclear how the CRU-B.C., a British Columbia-based unit, has been adopted as a “national best practice”.

That said, historian Brian Smallshaw has written: “From OPP [Ontario Provincial Police] Interim Superintendent Marcel Beaudin’s testimony at the POEC [Public Order Emergency Commission] hearings on October 29th [2022 into the Freedom Convoy protest of January-February 2022 in Ottawa] I learned that he regularly consulted with his colleague in BC, Chief Superintendent John Brewer, Gold Commander of the C-IRG, who oversaw police enforcement at Fairy Creek and Wet’suwet’en.”

Photo: An RCMP tactical vehicle near Parliament Hill on February 20, 2022. Photo by Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press.

We continue to follow this with interest.

PBI highlights situation of human rights defenders in Kenya, Honduras, Guatemala and Colombia at UN Human Rights Council session

By
Brent Patterson
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On March 12, Peace Brigades International (PBI) Advocacy Coordinator Yannick Wild presented to the 55th Human Rights Council Session at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland during the Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor.

In his presentation, he noted:

“In Kenya, grassroots human rights groups raised multiple alerts, reporting that the 2022 Community Groups Registration Act is used to pressure them to refrain from crucial human rights activities, like advocacy and violation monitoring. Many Youth Human Rights Defenders who belong to community-based organizations such as Nairobi’s Mathare Social Justice Centre, face registration challenges or requests to alter their objectives.

In Honduras, 2023 has seen a significant increase in attacks against Human Rights Defenders. Youth are often on the front lines defending human rights in the country, facing cyberbullying, defamation campaigns on social media and in the media, as seen in the case of the organizations COPINH and ARCAH. There is an urgent need to strengthen a national protection system to ensure they can carry out their activities safely.

In Guatemala, over 5900 attacks against Human Rights Defenders were reported by UDEFEGUA in 2023 (2022: 3504 attacks, 2021: 1004). The ongoing cooptation of the justice system intensifies the criminalization of defenders, justice operators, and journalists. Urgent action is needed to request the Public Ministry to stop the criminalization of HRDs and on the contrary to investigate and prosecute attacks against Human Rights Defenders.

In Colombia, the National Protection Unit (UNP) remains deficient, and progress on developing a public policy for Human Rights Defenders, as well as reactivating protection programs for women and collective measures, is slow. Additionally, there is persistent impunity for serious police violations against youth during the 2020 and 2021 protests.”

The video of this can be seen here.

For the text of UN Special Rapporteur Mary Lawlor’s comments that opened this session, please click here.

PBI-Switzerland.

PBI asks the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing to visit Guatemala, see the situation of forced evictions

By
Brent Patterson
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On March 4, Peace Brigades International (PBI) Advocacy Coordinator Yannick Wild presented to the 55th Human Rights Council Session at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland during the Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, Balakrishnan Rajagopal.

His presentation noted:

“In Guatemala, in recent years, dozens of forced evictions have left thousands of families, mainly Indigenous peoples, in a situation of humanitarian emergency. International standards have not been respected, and most have been carried out with disproportionate use of force and violence, sometimes extrajudicial and with the presence of armed non-state actors. Dozens of families have lost their homes, their belongings, and their crops have been destroyed. In addition, many people have been evicted and criminalized and arrest warrants have been issued through a co-opted justice system.

Unequal and disputed land tenure, a structural cause of agrarian conflict, together with a co-opted justice system that favors economic powers for extractivist, agribusiness and energy projects, is resulting in the loss of access to land and territory for indigenous peoples.

We ask the Rapporteur to visit the country and learn first hand about the problems and advise the communities as well as the implementation of the amicable agreement recently agreed with the government.

We support the call to Guatemala by Commissioner Pulido of the Inter-American Commission in February 2024, to provide security to the communities so that there will be no more evictions. We also endorse the recommendation of an independent delegation of lawyers to suspend the granting of licenses for activities that affect the ancestral territories of indigenous peoples without their free, prior and informed consent and consultation.”

The video of the presentation can be seen here.

For more about the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project (1983 to 1999, 2003 to the present), click here.

PBI-Switzerland.

Militarization, megaprojects and the June 2nd presidential election in Mexico

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: Demonstrators confronting armed military officials patrolling the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus megaproject. Photo by Carlos Beas.

As Mexico heads towards general elections to be held on June 2nd this year, we recall concerns raised by Peace Brigades International prior to the July 1, 2018 election.

In June 2018, PBI-United Kingdom commented in The Guardian:

Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) won that July 1, 2018 election and became the President of Mexico in December 2018.

In January 2019, PBI-Mexico commented: “The militarization of the country continues to be a concern for Mexican and international civil society. Since the government of Felipe Calderón [2006 to 2012], the ‘War on Drugs’ [launched on December 10, 2006] has resulted in a drastic increase in violence in the country with horrific numbers of human rights violations. The organizations that PBI accompanies link this military strategy to the human rights crisis in which the country still finds itself. In this context, the AMLO government’s proposal for a National Guard is of serious concern to human rights organizations.”

The National Guard

In September 2022, The Guardian reported:

“Soon after taking office in December 2018, he [AMLO] created a new force, known as the national guard, to take over public security across the country. And then he successfully pushed his political party, and allied parties, to hand the control of the national guard over to the Mexican army.

The Mexican senate voted the measure into law earlier this month despite López Obrador promising the newly created force would remain under civilian control.

The national guard was meant to replace the disbanded federal police as a public security force. Now, analysts say placing the force under the control of the military is a final step in the militarization of public security in Mexico.

The move has sparked an outcry from human rights organizations who state that, rather than turn security over to the military, the government should instead reform state and local police forces.”

Militarization and megaprojects

Then in September 2023, Avispa Midia reported:

“The federal government has also assigned a growing list of other civilian tasks to the armed forces, through a series of administration and legislative actions and reforms.

These tasks include the construction of megaprojects, or the management of companies in charge of them, like the Maya Train, the Interoceanic Corridor, and airports. There are also plans to soon begin to operate a military airline. Military institutions also control ports and customs.

The [Washington Office on Latin America/WOLA] study [Militarized Transformation: Human Rights and Democratic Controls in a Context of Increasing Militarization in Mexico] warns that while their powers and authority are growing, the armed forces do not have effective civilian controls over their actions.”

The Interoceanic Corridor

As noted above, the Interoceanic Corridor is a task assigned to the armed forces.

On July 27, 2023, PBI-Mexico tweeted: “PBI accompanies the observation mission in the Isthmus. It will continue to monitor the risk situation in which the indigenous peoples affected by the construction of the Interoceanic Corridor in their territory find themselves. Here we share the press release.”

The Observation Mission stated: “Among the authorities responsible for the human rights violations identified during the mission are the National Guard, the Navy, the Sedena [the Mexican Secretariat of National Defense], the State Police, the Secretariat of Communications and Transportation, municipal authorities and the Agrarian Attorney’s Office. Various companies, armed groups and local chieftains were also identified.”

PBI-Canada webinar

On September 21, 2023, PBI-Canada organized a webinar featuring Carlos Beas Torres of the Union of Indigenous Communities from the North of the Isthmus (UCIZONI), Margherita Forni of PBI-Mexico and Hannah Matthews of the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) that discussed concerns about the Interoceanic Corridor megaproject, including the militarization of the project.

The 2024 election has begun

Mexico News Daily now reports: “The official campaign period for Mexico’s upcoming federal election began Friday [March 1], exactly 93 days before voters will go to the polls to elect a new president for the next six years.”

Where do the candidates stand on militarization?

The three leading candidates appear to be Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, Xóchitl Gálvez and Jorge Álvarez Máynez.

Politico.mx sets the context: “During AMLO’s government, the military adopted a preponderant role in the State, not only in that they had a greater presence in public security, but also in public administration by granting them the administration of airports such as the AIFA, the Mayan Train, construction works and companies.”

It then notes:

“Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo has been in favor of the Armed Forces continuing to carry out public security tasks, as well as other activities that the president has given them, considering that they did it well.

Xóchitl Gálvez has proposed returning respect to the Armed Forces and removing them from civilian activities, focusing on national security instead of public safety.

Jorge Álvarez Máynez has also been against the military carrying out civilian activities and public security tasks, although he has not made a concrete proposal on the issue of militarization.”

We continue to follow this with interest.

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