Ottawa, Ontario
Canada has a proud history of offering refuge and assistance to the world's most vulnerable. The fall of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan created a unique and dire situation for the people in Afghanistan, and changes to Canada's Criminal Code are needed in order to allow international assistance, including humanitarian aid to reach them. The scale of the humanitarian and economic crises that Afghans are currently facing cannot be overstated, and Canadians want to help. These changes will enable Canadian organizations to deliver much needed assistance, while maintaining our strong anti-terrorism laws and protections.
The Minister of Public Safety, the Honourable Marco Mendicino, today introduced legislation to facilitate humanitarian aid - as well as immigration activities and other government operations - in Afghanistan and other geographic areas controlled by terrorist groups. Bill C-41, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and to make consequential amendments to other Acts, will make important changes to the Criminal Code to allow desperately needed aid to be delivered by Canadian organizations to the people of Afghanistan.
At present, the Criminal Code's anti-terrorist financing provisions inadvertently place significant constraints on the delivery of international assistance. After extensive consultation with aid groups affected, this legislation would create a regime providing authorizations for certain purposes, like aid and immigration activities, in geographic areas controlled by a terrorist group. Those who receive an authorization (and respect its terms) would be shielded from the risk of criminal liability when carrying out authorized activities. Stringent measures to prevent any financing from reaching terrorist groups would remain in place.
These changes to the Criminal Code support Canada's deep commitment to the people of Afghanistan, while upholding our domestic and international obligations to combat terrorism. We are joining our allies in fulfilling obligations contained in United Nations Security Council Resolution 2615 by facilitating the delivery of humanitarian assistance to vulnerable people in Afghanistan while ensuring that authorized activities are not under risk of criminal liability. Beyond Afghanistan, the proposed authorization regime would also support international assistance and efforts to resettle refugees from other geographic areas controlled by a terrorist group in the future, in situations where life-saving support is required.
