Trudeau Government Touted ‘Reconciliation,’ Then Lobbied To

[Oscar]

Trudeau Government Touted ‘Reconciliation,’ Then Lobbied To Arm States Repressing Indigenous Peoples

[ https://readthemaple.com/trudeau-govern ... us-people/ ]

by Alex Cosh October 3, 2023

EXCERPT: "Former defence minister Anita Anand was instructed to offer her counterparts advice about “reconciliation” before encouraging Latin American governments that violently suppress Indigenous-led protests to buy more Canadian-made weapons last year.

In particular, Anand’s briefing notes for the July 2022 Conference of Defence Ministers in Brazil highlighted Canada’s arms deals with Colombia. These have been a major point of concern among human rights activists who warn that such military supplies — including $418 million worth of light-armoured vehicles (LAVs) — could present a danger to Indigenous populations in the coal mining region of La Guajira.

The briefing documents, which The Maple obtained through an access to information request, show a disconnect between the Trudeau government’s purported support for Indigenous human rights and its lobbying efforts to expand the arms trade, according to Kelsey Gallagher, a researcher with the arms monitoring group Project Ploughshares.

“We have a cabinet minister going to other states, platforming Canadian defence goods and talking about Indigenous reconciliation, when a number of these states have a record of systematic human rights violations against Indigenous groups,” said Gallagher.

Anand served as minister of defence until July 2023, and now serves as president of the Treasury Board. . . .

MORE: . . . .