International Criminal Court | NDP accuses Liberals of kowtowing to Trump
(Ottawa) The New Democratic Party (NDP) believes that the Carney government’s declarations in favor of international law ring hollow, while it remains silent on the sanctions imposed by Washington against a Canadian judge.
Published yesterday at
While Foreign Minister Anita Anand rejected US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s call to “dismantle” the International Criminal Court (ICC), she never directly opposed the sanctions imposed by Washington on ICC judge from Winnipeg, Kimberly Prost.
“At a time when we see the United States moving away from international law, this is the opportunity for Canada to take over,” said Heather McPherson, NDP foreign affairs critic, on Tuesday.
“As a Canadian MP, as a Canadian citizen, what worries me more is the silence of our federal government on this subject. »
US President Donald Trump has targeted the UN court for investigating Israeli officials and for its past preliminary work involving Americans.
Mr. Trump imposed sanctions on Mr.me Prost last August because of his work on a case involving American soldiers in Afghanistan. Canada, unlike France, has never directly criticized these American sanctions, which deprived Mme Prost of the possibility of using most credit cards or resorting to multinational services such as Amazon or airlines.
Mr. Rubio intensified his attacks on the Court this week. He urged allies to withdraw from the ICC and said it would attempt to put U.S. border agents, federal prosecutors and members of the U.S. Marine Corps on trial in The Hague in an effort to discredit American sovereignty.
Although the United States and Israel are not members of the ICC, it can still investigate Americans or Israelis in incidents involving victims from member states. The ICC has never formally investigated or indicted an American.
The court was established in 2002 to try genocides, war crimes and crimes against humanity in cases where countries are unable or unwilling to do so themselves.
PHOTO NELSON ALMEIDA, ARCHIVES AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand
On July 17, Mme Anand indicated that Canada would not withdraw from the ICC.
“There is no room for political interference in the work of judges. It’s quite clear,” said M.me Anand at a press conference last Friday.
“Canada is a founding member of the ICC and will continue to strongly support the ICC and its mandate, as it has since its inception. Therefore, we will continue to defend the independence, impartiality and integrity of the Court. »
Last month, Mme Prost and two other ICC judges challenged the sanctions in a New York court. Sabine Nölke, former Canadian ambassador to The Hague, called on Ottawa to file a brief in support of Ms.me Prost.
Mme Anand argued that Canada supported all ICC judges, regardless of their nationality, and was not involved in the case involving Mr.me Prost.
Canada generally opposed the sanctions without directly criticizing them, as France did.
Ottawa endorsed a 2025 multinational declaration saying ICC sanctions “increase the risk of impunity for the most serious crimes and threaten to erode the international rule of law,” as well as another declaration that support for the ICC “is of paramount importance at this time of continued threats to the Court.”
Government hides behind ‘ambiguous language,’ says McPherson
Mme McPherson said Ottawa was seeking to appease Mr. Trump by not taking any concrete steps to defend international law.
“They hide behind ambiguous language. We have already observed this behavior from Minister Anand. If she wanted to defend a Canadian citizen – which, frankly, is the responsibility of the federal government – she has tools at her disposal that she chose not to use,” said Ms.me McPherson.
“For those on the front lines of protecting international law, when a country like Canada refuses to defend it, it discredits those systems, without a doubt. And the rest of the world is seeing it. »
The Edmonton MP sent a letter to Mr.me Anand and Justice Minister Sean Fraser, urging them to use the Foreign Extraterritorial Measures Act to prevent Canadian companies from applying American sanctions. Canada has already used this law in the past to prevent Canadian companies from applying American sanctions regarding Cuba.
“Your government no longer supports the international legal system,” his letter read.
“You have refused to publicly support Judge Prost’s legal action and you have refused to demand that the United States lift these unjust sanctions. »
The letter highlights that Canada has supported Ukrainians, Syrians and Rohingya from Burma before international courts, and denounces the hypocrisy of Ottawa in not offering the same level of support to Palestinian or Sudanese civilians.
