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OTTAWA — The global head of Amnesty International is calling on Ottawa to bring the same intensity it has used to call out U.S. tariffs and annexation threats to also call out breaches in human rights by Washington and other countries.
“For many people around the world, Canada stood out for its determination to stand firm and to say no,” Amnesty Secretary-General Agnès Callamard told reporters Monday on Parliament Hill.
“We are here today to ensure that this stand continues, and is deeper and stronger in terms of its values.”
On a rare visit to Canada, Callamard urged the government of Prime Minister Mark Carney to stand up to “bullies” undermining global norms and institutions meant to uphold human rights. Though she acknowledged this could lead to blowback from Washington.
Her visit came on the eve of Carney’s visit to Washington, to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump Tuesday at the White House. Callamard met with Carney’s office as well as Global Affairs Canada but did not meet with Carney.
Callamard said immediately after that meeting Carney should announce the creation of an ambassador for human rights. “That will be a very symbolic gesture that human rights is part of what this government is prepared to fight for,” she said.
She also said Canada should prepare to sanction U.S. lawmakers targeting United Nations judges for issuing arrest warrants against senior Israeli officials for war crimes in the Gaza Strip.
Trump signed an executive order in February, threatening sanctions against the International Criminal Court, its staff and their family members. She said if those are implemented, Canada should sanction those involved in punishing the court’s staff.
“The U.S. government is heading a global assault on gender and racial justice,” she added, as well as pulling back from the fight against climate change.
She said the world risks being plunged into a level of crisis last seen during the Second World War, from problems that predated the return of Trump to the White House.
Callamard cited creeping authoritarianism, such as the arrest of Indigenous protesters in Canada and democracy advocates in China as well as the U.S. attempting to deport those attending pro-Palestine rallies.
She said governments are violating international rules in multiple places including the Gaza Strip, Ukraine, Sudan, Myanmar, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan and Venezuela.
“We are calling on the international community to wake up to the reality now, or else this historical juncture will mutate into historic devastation,” she said.
“If you want to protect Canada’s territorial integrity, then you need to stand firm for the rules-based order, and that means also for human-rights protection,” she said.
Callamard also repeated Amnesty’s past calls for Canada to better uphold Indigenous Peoples’ rights to informed consent and the ability to oppose things like pipelines, and to provide a universal basic income to stop a growing economic inequality.
The organization also wants Ottawa to end the Safe Third Country Agreement, which restricts the ability of people inside the U.S. to claim asylum in Canada.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 5, 2025.
Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press
