Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino rises during Question Period, in Ottawa, Wednesday, March 29, 2023. Mendicino will testify this afternoon on legislation aimed at unblocking humanitarian support for Afghanistan. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
OTTAWA – Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino says Canada will not issue a blanket exemption to terrorism laws for humanitarian workers in places such as Afghanistan, saying the approach taken by Canada’s peers risks abuse.
“The approach outlined in Bill C-41 best mitigates those risks by potential terrorist actors,” Mendicino told the House justice committee Mondayafternoon.
He was testifying on legislation he tabled last month thatwould amend the Criminal Code so that Canadian aid workers can carry out duties in areas controlled by terrorists without being prosecuted for inadvertently funding such groups.
The bill comes more thana year after Canada’s allies issued blanket exemptions for humanitarian aid workers to continue their work in Afghanistan, in response to the Taliban’s violent takeover of Kabul in August 2021.
Canada’s legislation takes a different tack than that of the U.S., the U.K. and the European Union, by lettingaid workers apply for an exemption to help people in crisis in a geographic area that is controlled by a terrorist group.
Humanitarian groups say that more than a year ago, Global Affairs Canada warned them that purchasing goods or hiring locals in Afghanistan would involve paying taxes to the Taliban, which would be categorized under the law as contributing to a terror group.
Many aid groups have welcomed the change, but Doctors Without Borders said Ottawa should issue a blanket exemption instead of requiring groups to apply for permits.
“These amendments unfortunately create new bureaucratic hurdles for organizations to overcome,” the group argued in a press release last month.
The proposed changes “introduce new, onerous requirements that will delay life-saving assistance,” it said.
Doctors Without Borders also argued that the legislation could create an uneven approach, and that if a group has its permit denied – even for administrative reasons – it will have to abruptly discontinue aid delivery projects.
“These amendments also contradict the fundamental principles of independence and impartiality of humanitarian assistance under international humanitarian law.”
Mendicino testified that Ottawa fears a blanket approach would allow terror groups to gain support, despite multiple countries issuing such exemptions.
“Our government considered all possible remedies, including the possibility of a humanitarian exemption to the existing law. However, a statutory carve-out would not provide, in our submission, the same security checks and balances, and would risk greater abuse of the provision,” Mendicino said.
“We need to strike that balance, and do it in a way that promotes transparency, accountability, but with the sense of urgency that I think all parliamentarians are united behind, in getting that aid to Afghanistan.”
NDP foreign-affairs critic Heather McPherson rejected that argument, pressing Mendicino on why other countries have issued sweeping exemptions.
“Canada’s the only one that put barriers up for humanitarian organizations, instead of making it easier for them to be on the ground doing the work helping Afghans,” McPherson said.
She noted that Global Affairs Canada is already struggling to complete its core duties. She argued aid groups feel pressured to support the legislation since Ottawa took so long to craft a solution.
“They’re willing to take the crumbs that you’ve put on the table because you did not come with the right legislation,” McPherson told Mendicino.
Conservative international-development critic Garnett Genuis pressed Mendicino on whether the bill only provides exemptions in areas controlled by terror groups listed by Ottawa, or other terrorist groups that haven’t been listed by Ottawa. Mendicino did not indicate whether that would apply.
Genuis similarly asked Mendicino for a rough time frame for when the legislation would come into force, but Mendicino would only say that the applications for exemptions would be processed quickly once the system is in place.
Mendicino appeared alongside senior bureaucrats who were to testify after the minister.
Afghanistan is grappling with rising malnutrition and an economy that has largely collapsed.
Aid groups such as World Vision Canada have said that their work in Afghanistan traditionally solicits large donations from the public compared to other humanitarian appeals, but the existing laws bar them from collecting these funds.
Leading charities such as Islamic Relief Canada have been lobbying for months for a change to the Criminal Code, which MPs from all parties called for last June.
By that point, the U.S., U.K., European Union and Australia had all issued blanket exemptions instead of requiring individual permits.
Bureaucrats have previously said that Canada’s laws made finding a solution more challenging than it had been for peer countries.
Last month’s budget earmarked $5 million this fiscal year to vet applications and issue exemptions, and $11 million for the following year.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 17, 2023.
