FROLITICKS

Lately I’ve been reading about Canada’s desire to increase its arms trade with developing countries — most notably countries such as Columbia, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Chile, Peru, South Korea, India and Kuwait. As you may be aware, a number of these countries have demonstrated recent violations of their citizens’ human rights.

These and the other countries were or are expected to be added to what is called the Automatic Firearms Country Control List, all in the name of expanding Canada’s share of the global arms trade. The arms industry represents a $12 Billion sector in Canada, and is said to be responsible for about 109,000 jobs in Canada. The list itself was established more than 20 years ago by the Canadian Government to represent the only states to which Canadian defence companies and others can export prohibited weapons and military equipment. At the time, its intentions certainly appeared to be honourable.

However, experts now believe that the above list is being expanded to take into account a significant drop in arms sales to such traditional markets as the U.S. and Britain, primarily as a result of the current reduction in the NATO-led mission to Afghanistan. Indeed, the U.S. and British governments, in general, have also drastically slashed defence spending in an effort to get their financial books in order. There is little doubt that both countries will continue to compete with Canada for arms sales to developing countries, regardless of the purposes of their eventual use in those countries.

For example, Canadian-made light armoured vehicles of the type used by Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan were sold to Saudi Arabia several years ago and later used in 2011 to help crack down on protesters in neighbouring Bahrain. The addition of Colombia to the list in December 2012 was followed several days later by the sale of 24 similar armoured vehicles for $65 Million despite concerns about human and labour rights inside that Latin American country. Peru has also struggled when it comes to respecting the rights of indigenous peoples, particularly around mining projects. Brazil was swept with protests for more than a month that include allegations of police brutality. In addition, Canada may be contributing to further destabilizing relationships between bordering countries such as India and Pakistan.

The Conservative government has been promoting Canada’s defence industry as an economic priority, in large part because it hopes doing so will help offset the thousands of manufacturing jobs that have been lost in other sectors. But at what cost to the advancement of human rights in the listed countries? Although Canada is a relatively small arms dealer on the international market, its contribution to domestic abuses by governments in certain countries cannot and should not be ignored. The Conservative government’s high-profile refusal to sign on to an international treaty aimed at curbing the illicit sale of arms and ammunition, and a lack of transparency on Canadian arms sales in recent years doesn’t inspire confidence. We might very well ask whether selling guns to developing countries is the wisest and best way for Canada to make a buck.