<html><body><div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: #000000"><div><br></div><div><br></div><hr id="zwchr" data-marker="__DIVIDER__"><div data-marker="__HEADERS__"><b>From: </b>"Esther Fyk" <estherfyk1952@gmail.com><br><b>To: </b>"WILPF Canada" <wilpfcanada@googlegroups.com><br><b>Sent: </b>Wednesday, October 4, 2023 12:13:41 AM<br><b>Subject: </b>Canadian arms sales to Columbia and Peru<br></div><div><br></div><div data-marker="__QUOTED_TEXT__"><div dir="ltr"><div>Hello, Peacemakers:</div><div>This is an article from The Maple, to which I have a subscription. The following article outlines Canada's continuing sales to South America despite organizations such as Amnesty International's concerns - this is mentioned in the article nearer the end. They have called for Canada to suspend its arms deals in this area,some of which have ties to Canadian-owned mines.<br></div><div>Blessings,</div><div>Esther</div><br><div><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" style="border-collapse:separate;width:100%"><tbody><tr><td width="100%" align="center" style="font-family:'-apple-system' , 'blinkmacsystemfont' , 'segoe ui' , 'roboto' , 'helvetica' , 'arial' , sans-serif , 'apple color emoji' , 'segoe ui emoji' , 'segoe ui symbol';font-size:18px;vertical-align:top;color:rgb( 21 , 33 , 42 );padding-top:24px" valign="top"><img width="600" style="border:medium;max-width:100%" class="gmail-CToWUd" src="https://www.readthemaple.com/content/images/size/w1200/2023/04/email-banner-3.png">
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<a href="https://www.readthemaple.com/r/541e7a46?m=b3d10607-5209-43e8-8a8c-d24c2013eb07" style="text-decoration:none;color:rgb( 21 , 33 , 42 );display:block;margin-top:50px;text-align:left" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Trudeau Government Touted ‘Reconciliation,’ Then Lobbied To Arm States Repressing Indigenous Peoples</a>
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By Alex Cosh • <span class="m_3532171405668462571post-meta-date" style="white-space:nowrap">3 Oct 2023 </span>
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</td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:'-apple-system' , 'blinkmacsystemfont' , 'segoe ui' , 'roboto' , 'helvetica' , 'arial' , sans-serif , 'apple color emoji' , 'segoe ui emoji' , 'segoe ui symbol';font-size:18px;vertical-align:top;color:rgb( 21 , 33 , 42 );width:100%;padding-bottom:10px" width="100%" valign="top"><img width="600" style="border:medium;max-width:100%" class="gmail-CToWUd gmail-a6T" src="https://www.readthemaple.com/content/images/size/w1200/2023/10/anand.jpeg"></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" style="border-collapse:separate;width:100%"><tbody><tr><td align="center" style="font-family:'-apple-system' , 'blinkmacsystemfont' , 'segoe ui' , 'roboto' , 'helvetica' , 'arial' , sans-serif , 'apple color emoji' , 'segoe ui emoji' , 'segoe ui symbol';vertical-align:top;width:100%;padding-bottom:30px;text-align:center;font-size:13px;color:rgb( 115 , 138 , 148 )" width="100%" valign="top">Photo credit: Anita Anand <a href="https://www.readthemaple.com/r/4d71557a?m=b3d10607-5209-43e8-8a8c-d24c2013eb07" style="color:rgb( 204 , 13 , 89 );text-decoration:none" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">via</a> Twitter/X.</td></tr><tr><td style="vertical-align:top;font-family:'georgia' , serif;font-size:18px;line-height:1.5em;color:rgb( 21 , 33 , 42 );padding-bottom:20px;border-bottom:1px solid rgb( 229 , 239 , 245 );max-width:600px" valign="top">
<p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap">_______________________</span></p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap">Good morning Maple readers. As we come out of the long weekend </span><a href="https://www.readthemaple.com/r/f548aa20?m=b3d10607-5209-43e8-8a8c-d24c2013eb07" rel="noreferrer nofollow noopener noreferrer" style="color:rgb( 204 , 13 , 89 );text-decoration:underline" target="_blank"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap">marking the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation,</span></a><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> we have a story today shedding some ugly light on the Trudeau government's 'disconnected' approach to Indigenous rights abroad.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap">Today's special story is a standalone article that's freely available to everyone. We'll be reintroducing our regular subscriber-only content in Thursday's newsletter.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap">Thank you to all of our supporting members who make this work possible. Now, let's get into today's story.</span></p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap">_______________________</span></p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em">Former
defence minister Anita Anand was instructed to offer her counterparts
advice about “reconciliation” before encouraging Latin American
governments that violently suppress Indigenous-led protests to buy more
Canadian-made weapons last year.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em">In
particular, Anand’s briefing notes for the July 2022 Conference of
Defence Ministers in Brazil highlighted Canada’s arms deals with
Colombia. These have been a major point of concern among human rights
activists who <a href="https://www.readthemaple.com/r/538abe2a?m=b3d10607-5209-43e8-8a8c-d24c2013eb07" style="color:rgb( 204 , 13 , 89 );text-decoration:underline" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer"><u>warn</u></a>
that such military supplies — including $418 million worth of
light-armoured vehicles (LAVs) — could present a danger to Indigenous
populations in the coal mining region of La Guajira.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em">The
briefing documents, which The Maple obtained through an access to
information request, show a disconnect between the Trudeau government’s
purported support for Indigenous human rights and its lobbying efforts
to expand the arms trade, according to Kelsey Gallagher, a researcher
with the arms monitoring group Project Ploughshares.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em">“We
have a cabinet minister going to other states, platforming Canadian
defence goods and talking about Indigenous reconciliation, when a number
of these states have a record of systematic human rights violations
against Indigenous groups,” said Gallagher.</p><div style="text-align:center"><hr style="display:block;width:100%;margin:3em 0px;padding:0px;height:1px;border-width:1px 0px 0px;border-style:solid none none;border-color:rgb( 229 , 239 , 245 )"><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap">Appreciate this content? Consider forwarding this email to a friend. Did someone forward this to you? Sign-up today for free.</span></p><div class="m_3532171405668462571btn" style="width:100%;display:table"> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" style="border-collapse:separate;width:auto" width="auto"><tbody><tr><td align="center" style="font-family:'-apple-system' , 'blinkmacsystemfont' , 'segoe ui' , 'roboto' , 'helvetica' , 'arial' , sans-serif , 'apple color emoji' , 'segoe ui emoji' , 'segoe ui symbol';font-size:18px;vertical-align:top;color:rgb( 21 , 33 , 42 );border-radius:5px;text-align:center;background-color:rgb( 204 , 13 , 89 )" valign="top" bgcolor="#CC0D59"> <a href="https://www.readthemaple.com/r/046df275?m=b3d10607-5209-43e8-8a8c-d24c2013eb07" style="border:1px solid rgb( 204 , 13 , 89 );border-radius:5px;display:inline-block;font-size:14px;font-weight:bold;margin:0px;padding:12px 25px;text-decoration:none;background-color:rgb( 204 , 13 , 89 );color:rgb( 255 , 255 , 255 )" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Sign-up for free</a> </td></tr></tbody></table> </div> <p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em"></p><hr style="display:block;width:100%;margin:3em 0px;padding:0px;height:1px;border-width:1px 0px 0px;border-style:solid none none;border-color:rgb( 229 , 239 , 245 )"></div><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em">Anand served as minister of defence until July 2023, and now serves as president of the Treasury Board.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em">The
briefing documents for last year’s conference show that Anand was
instructed to stress the importance of Indigenous “reconciliation”
efforts and to raise the possibility of cooperation in that work with
the defence ministers of Peru, Brazil and Chile.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em">The
message, which was nearly identical in Anand’s briefing notes for all
of the above countries, explained that “addressing historical wrongs and
pursuing reconciliation” with Indigenous peoples is a top priority for
Canada.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em">DND’s official news release regarding the conference <a href="https://www.readthemaple.com/r/471e997b?m=b3d10607-5209-43e8-8a8c-d24c2013eb07" style="color:rgb( 204 , 13 , 89 );text-decoration:underline" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer"><u>made</u></a> no mention of Indigenous peoples or lobbying efforts for Canadian arms sales.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em">Talking
points on reconciliation were notably absent in Anand’s briefing
documents for her planned meetings with Colombian officials. Instead,
her notes for those meetings focused on maintaining Canada’s “friendly”
bilateral military partnerships with Colombia, a NATO partner nation.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em">The
briefing documents noted that General Dynamics Land Systems - Canada
(GDLS) sold 24 LAVs to the Colombian defence ministry in 2012, and
another eight in 2014. GDLS was also “in discussion to provide
additional [LAVs],” the document added. That deal was officially
approved in June, <a href="https://www.readthemaple.com/r/f9d1527b?m=b3d10607-5209-43e8-8a8c-d24c2013eb07" style="color:rgb( 204 , 13 , 89 );text-decoration:underline" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer"><u>carrying</u></a> a price tag of $418 million.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em">“This
deal is one of the biggest, if not the single biggest, Canadian arms
sale to a Latin American country ever,” said Gallagher.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em">The
document also referred to a deal between military helicopter
manufacturer Bell Textron and the Colombian army, as well as talks
between the British Columbia-based Viking Air and the Colombian defence
ministry’s airline, SATENA, for the supply of Twin Otter aircraft.
Finally, the document noted “opportunities related to a new naval base
and Military headquarters building” in Colombia, but did not provide
specific details about this project.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em">The
document explicitly indicated the Canadian ministry’s intention to
facilitate even more arms deals with Colombia, identifying the “defence
and security” sector as being ripe for further “expansion of Canadian
trade and investment,” along with mining, agriculture and
infrastructure.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em">Canadian companies <a href="https://www.readthemaple.com/r/b98a0dcf?m=b3d10607-5209-43e8-8a8c-d24c2013eb07" style="color:rgb( 204 , 13 , 89 );text-decoration:underline" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer"><u>held</u></a> $1.8 billion worth of mining assets in Colombia in 2021.</p><h3 id="m_3532171405668462571concerns-in-colombia" style="font-family:'-apple-system' , 'blinkmacsystemfont' , 'segoe ui' , 'roboto' , 'helvetica' , 'arial' , sans-serif , 'apple color emoji' , 'segoe ui emoji' , 'segoe ui symbol';line-height:1.11em;font-weight:700;margin:1.5em 0px 0.5em;font-size:26px"><strong style="font-weight:800">Concerns In Colombia</strong></h3><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em">Activists
and human rights groups have long raised concerns about Canadian arms
sales to Colombia, along with other Latin American countries whose
ministers Anand planned to meet with at the Brazil conference.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em">Amnesty International’s 2022 report for Colombia <a href="https://www.readthemaple.com/r/8e9838de?m=b3d10607-5209-43e8-8a8c-d24c2013eb07" style="color:rgb( 204 , 13 , 89 );text-decoration:underline" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer"><u>noted</u></a>:
“Indigenous leaders and defenders were attacked and killed and, in
areas where armed opposition groups continued to operate, Indigenous and
Afro-descendant communities were forcibly displaced and some faced
humanitarian crises.”</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em">Brent
Patterson, director of Peace Brigades International - Canada, told The
Maple that DND’s prioritization of lobbying for arms sales over raising
concerns about Indigenous human rights violations is “deeply
problematic.”</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em">He
added that the reference to developing an unspecified “new naval base”
in Colombia in Anand’s briefing notes was particularly troubling. He
explained: “One of our partners in Colombia is very concerned about a
new naval base being built on territories, lands and waters claimed by
ancestral Indigenous territories.”</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em">Regarding
coal-mining activities in La Guajira, Patterson explained that the
highly controversial Cerrejón mine produces coal exports to Canada and
other parts of the world, including Germany, which is <a href="https://www.readthemaple.com/r/6cb112a3?m=b3d10607-5209-43e8-8a8c-d24c2013eb07" style="color:rgb( 204 , 13 , 89 );text-decoration:underline" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer"><u>importing</u></a> more coal to offset its reliance on Russian energy sources in the context of the war in Ukraine.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em">“Concern
about the political dynamics about Russia kind of trumps long-standing
violations of Indigenous rights in Colombia,” said Patterson. The
Cerrejón mine, he explained, draws massive amounts of water from nearby
sources, compounding an existing lack of access to water, poverty and
starvation for the Indigenous Wayúu people in the region.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em">Canadian-made
LAVs, meanwhile, have been spotted at stations in the area, said
Patterson. Activists on the ground, he explained, have expressed concern
that anytime a region in Colombia is militarized, “it does have
spillover effects on those lands and it constricts the space for
political resistance, political action.”</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em">Gallagher noted that in the spring of 2021, the Colombian National Police violently <a href="https://www.readthemaple.com/r/bc228866?m=b3d10607-5209-43e8-8a8c-d24c2013eb07" style="color:rgb( 204 , 13 , 89 );text-decoration:underline" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer"><u>cracked</u></a> down on peaceful protests against tax reforms.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em">“We
have minister Anand talking about this deal, platforming Canadian
weapons manufacturers, just a year after there was huge repression on
major protests within Colombia,” he noted.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em">The
Colombian National Police, Gallagher added, falls under the
administration of the country’s ministry of defence. This does not
necessarily mean that Canadian-made LAVs will go directly to the police,
he explained, but the overlap between those institutions is a major
cause for concern among human rights watchers.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em">Anand’s
briefing notes also encouraged her to lobby her Chilean counterpart for
expanded arms sales, with one of her “top messages” reading: “Canada’s
defence and security industry is well-placed to meet Chile’s defence
materiel requirements […] and we hope it will be considered in Chile’s
military modernization.”</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em">The Human Rights Watch world report for Chile in 2022 <a href="https://www.readthemaple.com/r/6914a1a5?m=b3d10607-5209-43e8-8a8c-d24c2013eb07" style="color:rgb( 204 , 13 , 89 );text-decoration:underline" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer"><u>noted</u></a>
that the country’s government continued to fight Indigenous Mapuche
land rights activists that year. The report also explained: “In October,
a former Carabinero colonel was found guilty of killing a 17-year-old
Mapuche boy, almost two decades after the death had taken place.”</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em">“If
you just do a basic search on the Human Rights Watch World Report, in
terms of these countries, it takes two minutes to find concerns about
police abuse, violence from security forces, concern about violations of
Indigenous rights, and long-standing and systemic issues about the
repression of peaceful resistance,” said Patterson.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em">Despite
Colombia and Chile having incoming and current progressive governments
respectively at the time of Anand’s meetings, Patterson warned, these
are not a permanent safeguard against Canadian military supplies being
used to crack down on Indigenous groups in the future.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em">“Whether
it’s in Peru or in Colombia, or in other countries, it doesn't change
the oligarchy or the economic elite that run the country; it doesn't
change, structurally or systemically, the military, or magically erase
ongoing concerns about about state violence or violence from state
security agencies,” said Patterson. “It often has this sense that it’s
like a temporary interlude.”</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em">“By the time the first LAV is sold, or certainly the last is delivered, it could be a different government.”</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em">Last month, leftist Colombian President Gustavo Petro <a href="https://www.readthemaple.com/r/4dd05f72?m=b3d10607-5209-43e8-8a8c-d24c2013eb07" rel="noreferrer nofollow noopener noreferrer" style="color:rgb( 204 , 13 , 89 );text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">announced</a>
emergency plans to invest in education, health, tourism and the water
supply in La Guajira, in addition to the Pact for a Fair Energy
Transition, a bid to shift the country's economy away from fossil fuels.</p><h3 id="m_3532171405668462571expanding-arms-sales-to-peru" style="font-family:'-apple-system' , 'blinkmacsystemfont' , 'segoe ui' , 'roboto' , 'helvetica' , 'arial' , sans-serif , 'apple color emoji' , 'segoe ui emoji' , 'segoe ui symbol';line-height:1.11em;font-weight:700;margin:1.5em 0px 0.5em;font-size:26px"><strong style="font-weight:800">Expanding Arms Sales To Peru</strong></h3><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em">In
her briefing notes for a planned meeting with Peru’s then-minister of
defence, José Luis Gavidia, Anand was instructed to tell her counterpart
that “I would welcome the opportunity to [...] learn how the Peruvian
military can work with the Indigenous peoples of your country.”</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em">The
same documents show that Anand was briefed to ask her Peruvian
counterpart to consider buying more Canadian-made military supplies. A
talking point listed under Anand’s “top messages” reads: “I […]
encourage your officials, as you look to modernize the Peruvian
military, to consider Canada’s defence industry, especially in the areas
of aerospace, maritime domain awareness, and maintenance, repair and
overhaul services.”</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em">At
the time of the meeting, Gavidia was part of the left-wing government
of president Pedro Castillo, who won the 2021 election in part due to
significant <a href="https://www.readthemaple.com/r/807c5ad7?m=b3d10607-5209-43e8-8a8c-d24c2013eb07" style="color:rgb( 204 , 13 , 89 );text-decoration:underline" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer"><u>support</u></a> from the country’s rural Indigenous populations. However, Castillo was ousted from office after <a href="https://www.readthemaple.com/r/7e6f2b4c?m=b3d10607-5209-43e8-8a8c-d24c2013eb07" style="color:rgb( 204 , 13 , 89 );text-decoration:underline" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer"><u>attempting</u></a> to dissolve an obstructive congress last December.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em">Castillo’s
removal from office was foreseen as a possibility by Global Affairs
Canada (GAC) staff. In documents first obtained by freelance journalist
John Horler and shared with The Maple, then deputy-director of GAC Karen
McNaught said during the first round of voting in the 2021 Peruvian
election that Castillo would face a “fractured congress” and “could be
impeached…” During the election period, GAC staff had described the
left-wing candidate as “anti-trade,” and worried about the impact his
policies might have on Canadian commercial interests, particularly in
the mining sector.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em">In 2021, Canadian companies <a href="https://www.readthemaple.com/r/4456ecfd?m=b3d10607-5209-43e8-8a8c-d24c2013eb07" style="color:rgb( 204 , 13 , 89 );text-decoration:underline" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer"><u>held</u></a> $59 billion worth of mining assets in all of South America, with Peru alone <a href="https://www.readthemaple.com/r/7e90876f?m=b3d10607-5209-43e8-8a8c-d24c2013eb07" style="color:rgb( 204 , 13 , 89 );text-decoration:underline" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer"><u>accounting</u></a> for close to $10 billion, or 5.1 per cent of all Canadian mining assets held abroad. That figure <a href="https://www.readthemaple.com/r/9ee12310?m=b3d10607-5209-43e8-8a8c-d24c2013eb07" style="color:rgb( 204 , 13 , 89 );text-decoration:underline" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer"><u>made</u></a> Canada the third-largest mining investor in Peru.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em">Following Castillo’s removal from office, widespread protests in areas largely populated by Indigenous peoples <a href="https://www.readthemaple.com/r/857c6a22?m=b3d10607-5209-43e8-8a8c-d24c2013eb07" style="color:rgb( 204 , 13 , 89 );text-decoration:underline" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer"><u>erupted</u></a>.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em">The
new Peruvian government, which is supported by Canada, proceeded to
violently crack down on those protesters, killing dozens. In January
this year, Amnesty International <a href="https://www.readthemaple.com/r/c9344e36?m=b3d10607-5209-43e8-8a8c-d24c2013eb07" style="color:rgb( 204 , 13 , 89 );text-decoration:underline" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer"><u>reported</u></a> that at least 40 protesters had been killed by state security forces since December 2022.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em">As a result of this violent repression, Amnesty International Canada <a href="https://www.readthemaple.com/r/24382f9f?m=b3d10607-5209-43e8-8a8c-d24c2013eb07" style="color:rgb( 204 , 13 , 89 );text-decoration:underline" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer"><u>called</u></a> on the Trudeau government to suspend arms sales to Peru in May. This call, Gallagher said, would not have been taken lightly.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em">“Amnesty really watches their words, and they don't shoot from the hip,” he explained.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em">Amnesty
called the Peruvian government’s actions “systemically racist” because
“it has disproportionately targeted Indigenous people, who have
historically suffered discrimination, unequal access to political
participation and the denial of their human rights.” Canadian arms sales
to Peru <a href="https://www.readthemaple.com/r/d1846eea?m=b3d10607-5209-43e8-8a8c-d24c2013eb07" style="color:rgb( 204 , 13 , 89 );text-decoration:underline" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer"><u>totalled</u></a> $560 million last year.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em">Instead
of heeding that call, Canadian ministers have sought to deepen trade
ties with Peru since the protests began. International trade minister
Mary Ng <a href="https://www.readthemaple.com/r/3490070c?m=b3d10607-5209-43e8-8a8c-d24c2013eb07" style="color:rgb( 204 , 13 , 89 );text-decoration:underline" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer"><u>emphasized</u></a>
Canada’s support for Peru's deeply unpopular government in a meeting
with the country’s prime minister at a mining convention back in March.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em">For Gallagher, Anand’s briefing documents beg the question of what it would take for the Canadian government to cut off arms <a href="https://www.readthemaple.com/r/10fe5e40?m=b3d10607-5209-43e8-8a8c-d24c2013eb07" style="color:rgb( 204 , 13 , 89 );text-decoration:underline" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer"><u>sales</u></a> to problematic governments.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.5em;line-height:1.6em">“In
what contexts would Canadian officials not bring up potentially buying
weapons from Canada? In what context would they not platform Canadian
arms manufacturers? How bad does a human rights record have to be for
them not to pitch Canadian arms sales?”</p></td></tr></tbody></table>AmnestyT <br></div></div>
<p></p>
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