STEVEN CHASE
OTTAWA — The
Globe and Mail
Published
Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017 12:10PM EST
Last updated
Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017 7:29PM EST
The Federal
Court has rejected a lawsuit that sought to block $15-billion in exports of
weaponized armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia, a pariah on human rights, saying
Canada’s foreign minister has broad authority to approve such shipments and
that a judge cannot rule on the morality of the exports.
“The role of
the court is not to pass moral judgments on the minister’s decision to issue
the export permits but only to make sure of the legality of such a decision,”
Justice Danièle Tremblay-Lamer wrote in a ruling released Tuesday.
At issue was
former foreign affairs minister Stéphane Dion’s April, 2016, decision to
approve export permits for the bulk of the $15-billion arms deal to Saudi
Arabia, a country with an abysmal human-rights record that uses armoured
vehicles against its own citizens. Riyadh also stands accused by a United
Nations panel of violating international humanitarian law with repeated
military strikes that have killed civilians in neighbouring Yemen.
The
application for judicial review of Mr. Dion’s decision was brought by
University of Montreal law professor Daniel Turp with legal assistance from the
firm of Trudel Johnston & Lespérance.
Mr. Turp
argued the foreign minister’s decision to allow the combat vehicles – equipped
with machine guns and anti-tank cannons – to be sent to Saudi Arabia failed a
test for arms sales adopted by federal cabinet in 1986 and which is still in
force today. The test says Canada will “closely control” arms exports to
countries with a persistent record of serious human-rights violations unless
there is “no reasonable risk” that the arms would be used against civilians.
Justice
Tremblay-Lamer said Canada’s federal Export and Import Permits Act gives the
federal government extremely “broad discretionary power” to accept or reject
applications for export permits of weapons.
She said her
power to review a minister’s decision “is limited to making sure that the …
decision was exercised in good faith,” adding that “the court is satisfied that
it was so exercised.”
While the
Saudis have been filmed using armoured vehicles against their own citizens,
Justice Tremblay-Lamer said it was important that there is no evidence
demonstrating Canadian-made combat machines have been used in this way.
“For there to
be a reasonable risk, there must at least be some connection between Saudi
Arabia’s alleged human rights violations and the use of the exported goods.”
She also
noted there are no sanctions in place that would forbid exporting military
goods to Saudi Arabia.
Mr. Turp on
Tuesday said he is seriously considering appealing the decision. Watchdog
groups warn of an eroding human rights situation in Saudi Arabia and Ottawa’s
own internal 2015 report on the Arab kingdom warned of “concerning human-rights
trends.”
The Globe and
Mail reported in early 2016 that Canadian-made combat vehicles had been spotted
being used by the Saudis in their fight against rebels in Yemen. Justice
Tremblay-Lamer decided the foreign minister appropriately considered the Yemen
conflict when making his decision. “Whether or not one agrees with the outcome
of his analysis, the minister’s conclusions were based on the evidence in the record.”
Again, she
noted that Saudi Arabia’s violations of international law in Yemen were not
“connected with the use of” combat vehicles such as those Canada is selling to
Riyadh.
Canada has
exported armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia in the past – sometimes via the
United States – but never a deal of this magnitude. The $15-billion deal is the
largest advanced-manufacturing export contract in Canadian history.
This deal was
brokered by the Harper government but it was the Trudeau government in early
2016 that actually sanctioned the export of the weaponized armoured vehicles,
which will be equipped with medium-gauge machine guns or anti-tank cannons. Mr.
Dion signed the export permits in early April – meaning the Liberal government
took full ownership of the decision.
In her
ruling, the Federal Court judge dismissed Mr. Turp’s application for judicial
review but did not make him pay the Canadian government’s legal bill for
defending itself in the case.
Mr. Turp
argued the Liberals have violated the Geneva Conventions – rules governing
armed conflicts – because Article 1 obliges Canada to ensure respect for the
conventions. But Justice Tremblay-Lamer said Article 1 does not apply because
Canada is not involved in the Yemeni war and that the regional fight is not an
international conflict.
Original
post: theglobeandmail.com
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