Sergei Magnitsky International Anti-Corruption and Human Rights Bill

Moved second reading of Bill C-219, An Act to amend the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Act, the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act (Sergei Magnitsky Law) and the Special Economic Measures Act.

He said: Honourable senators, I rise today to speak on Bill C-219, An Act to amend the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Act, the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act (Sergei Magnitsky Law) and the Special Economic Measures Act, or, in short, the international anti-corruption and human rights act (Sergei Magnitsky law no. 3).

This bill was drafted and introduced in the other place by my colleague James Bezan, the Member of Parliament for Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, who has long been an advocate for strengthening Canada’s sanctions regime. Indeed, in 2017, together with our former colleague senator Raynell Andreychuk, he helped steer the first Magnitsky legislation into law in Canada, helping to position our country to stand up to authoritarian regimes such as those of Vladimir Putin, Alexander Lukashenko and the Chinese Communist Party, or CCP.

It is important, colleagues, to highlight the name Magnitsky in this legislation. As many of you know, Sergei Magnitsky was a lawyer and auditor who uncovered the largest tax fraud in Russian history. His efforts to expose widespread corruption at the highest levels of the Putin regime led to his imprisonment, torture and, ultimately, his death.

Under his name, Canada and like-minded allies such as the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union have passed comprehensive legislation to strengthen their respective sanctions regimes against foreign individuals who have committed human rights abuses and/or engaged in significant corruption.

Bill C-219 will strengthen Canada’s ability to respond to serious human rights abuses, corruption, foreign interference and transnational repression by modernizing key elements of our existing sanctions framework.

The bill builds on our current Magnitsky legislation by closing gaps that have become increasingly apparent over the years, particularly with respect to foreign interference and transnational repression. It is about defending Canadian democracy. It is about protecting Canadians from foreign intimidation, and it is about ensuring that those who escape tyranny abroad do not encounter its agents here at home.

At its core, this bill does four things. First, it amends the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Act to establish in Canadian law the definition of “prisoner of conscience” as:

. . . an individual who, in contravention of international human rights standards, has been detained or otherwise physically restricted solely because of their identity or their conscientiously held beliefs, including religious or political beliefs.

The bill would also require the Minister of Foreign Affairs to publish an annual report outlining Canada’s efforts to advance human rights internationally and to support prisoners of conscience and human rights defenders. This would create greater transparency and accountability regarding Canada’s advocacy for human rights abroad.

Second, the bill would amend the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act (Sergei Magnitsky Law) and the Special Economic Measures Act to establish, for the first time within Canada’s sanctions regime, a definition of “transnational repression,” which would be defined as:

. . . tactics used by a foreign state to intimidate, harass, surveil or threaten individuals or groups located outside the state borders or physically harm such individuals or members of such groups, including elected officials, political dissidents, human rights defenders, exiled journalists, diaspora communities, civil society activists and refugees, for the purpose of silencing dissent and stifling activism.

Colleagues, the reality of transnational repression is no longer in dispute. It is an active threat right here on Canadian soil.

We know that authoritarian regimes use intimidation against diaspora communities. We know that foreign actors seek to silence critics who believed Canada would offer them refuge. We know that elected officials, journalists, activists and human rights defenders have been targeted because they dared to speak out against authoritarian governments.

For far too long, we have witnessed authoritarian regimes reaching beyond their borders to intimidate, threaten and harass diaspora communities that have sought refuge in Canada and other democratic countries. We have seen it with the CCP regime in Beijing and their secret police stations across the country, targeting dissidents, Uighur activists and political opponents.

We have even seen attempts to interfere with our democratic institutions and electoral processes, like the targeting of candidates such as Joe Tay, during the last federal election, and Kenny Chiu, in 2021.

It seems that I rise almost weekly to question the government leader in this place and the government following repeated allegations that agents of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps have infiltrated our society and harassed Iranian Canadians who managed to escape the tyranny of the regime in Tehran.

Bill C-219 would finally make transnational repression a specific ground for sanctions under Canada’s Magnitsky Law.

Honourable senators, there is no longer any doubt about it. We are facing transnational repression. This is a very real threat on our own soil.

We know that authoritarian regimes are harassing our diaspora communities.

We know that foreign actors are trying to silence critics who thought they would find refuge in Canada.

We know that elected officials, journalists and human rights and other activists have been targeted because they dared to speak out against authoritarian governments.

That is why we need to act now. This is about defending our own democracy.

Third, the bill increases transparency and parliamentary oversight of our sanctions regime by amending the Special Economic Measures Act to require that sanctions, orders and regulations be tabled in Parliament within five sitting days of being made.

It also creates timelines for the forfeiture and disposal of frozen assets, helping ensure that sanctioned assets do not remain frozen indefinitely, like the Russian Antonov aircraft sitting in Canada at Toronto Pearson Airport, with which I am sure many of you are familiar and have seen if you have been around Mississauga.

Sanctions, however, are only meaningful if they are strictly enforced. Bill C-219 would strengthen enforcement by amending the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act to increase penalties for sanctions violations from the current maximum of $25,000 and/or imprisonment for up to one year to a fine of up to $100,000 and/or imprisonment for a term of not more than three years. This will help make Canada’s sanctions regime more credible and effective.

This bill also originally contained measures put forward by another colleague in the House of Commons, Philip Lawrence, Member of Parliament for Northumberland—Peterborough South, in Bill C-281 during a previous Parliament — a bill that I was also proud to sponsor in this chamber.

Notably, these amendments would have directed the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission not to issue, renew or maintain broadcasting licences for state-owned broadcasters from countries committing genocide where that genocide had been recognized by either house of Parliament. Unfortunately, this provision was removed during committee consideration in the other place. Other provisions removed at committee include amendments to both the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act and the Special Economic Measures Act, which would have imposed visa restrictions on immediate family members of sanctioned individuals; required the RCMP and FINTRAC to report to the Minister of Foreign Affairs on the making, administration and enforcement of sanctions; and created a parliamentary sanction recommendation process through which parliamentary committees could recommend individuals and entities for sanctioning and require the minister to report back on those recommendations.

While these provisions were ultimately removed, they underscore an essential principle: Canada must never become a haven for the beneficiaries of corruption, repression and foreign intimidation.

Finally, amendments in the other place also removed the requirement to include the names and status of prisoners of conscience in the minister’s annual report.

On this point, I believe it is worth reflecting on the importance of shining a light on those brave men and women who have stood against tyranny around the world.

They are real people who have sacrificed their liberty, and sometimes their lives, for principles we often take for granted here.

Their stories remind us that the struggle between freedom and tyranny is not merely theoretical or something now in the past. It is happening right now somewhere around the world.

As parliamentarians, we attempt to amplify their voices all the time. We know many of their names and many of their stories.

These include people like Vladimir Kara-Murza, who dared to stand up to Putin and denounce Russia’s unjustified and illegal invasion of Ukraine, surviving two attempts on his life in the process; Jimmy Lai, whose criticism of the CCP dictatorship and its destruction of democracy in Hong Kong has landed him in prison; Ales Bialiatski, a Belarusian human rights defender and recipient of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, who has been repeatedly imprisoned for standing up to the Russian puppet regime of Lukashenko in Belarus; and Dr. Gulshan Abbas, a retired doctor and sister of the prominent Uighur human rights advocate Rushan Abbas, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison by the CCP on a fabricated charge in retaliation for her sister’s activism, and for whose release I have tabled a motion in this chamber. I am asking colleagues to please act on it. She has spent 20 years languishing in prison because her sister attended a protest in Washington. The examples are many, colleagues.

Their names, along with their fight for democracy, freedom and human rights, deserve to be highlighted at every available opportunity.

Notwithstanding the changes made during committee consideration in the other place, what remains is still a step in the right direction: a robust bill that reflects a growing recognition that traditional sanctions and tools must evolve to address today’s threats, including transnational repression, sanctions evasion, hostage diplomacy and other forms of coercion that extend far beyond the borders of authoritarian regimes.

Bill C-219 will strengthen our sanctions regime by defining key elements of the threats we face today, improving transparency and enforcement and enhancing Canada’s human rights reporting framework.

Most importantly, it recognizes that Canada has a responsibility to defend the freedoms and democratic values that define our country and are the foundation upon which it was built.

The bill was passed with unanimous consent in the House of Commons. I hope it will be passed in the same speedy way in the Senate.

Honourable colleagues, nefarious entities and authoritarian regimes around the world are using all kinds of new technologies and methods in order to continue their tyranny. We need to amend the Magnitsky Act, be vigilant and continue to react to new requirements on a day-to-day basis to try to keep up with this threat our country faces abroad and here in Canada.

I wish to take the time to thank Senator Peter Harder, who has accepted the role of critic of this bill. I look forward to his address. I reiterate that this bill deserves speedy passage. Thank you, colleagues.