Canada adopts Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act

October 18, 2017 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada

The Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today welcomed the adoption of the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act and amendments to the Special Economic Measures Act (SEMA). These changes are the result of cross-partisan collaboration and strong leadership by the sponsors of this legislation in the Senate and House of Commons.

This new law enables Canada to take further action to respond to cases of human rights violations and significant acts of corruption anywhere in the world. Canada will have the ability to impose asset freezes and travel bans on those responsible for these reprehensible acts or their accomplices. Amendments to SEMA allow Canada to impose economic sanctions when gross and systematic violations of human rights are happening in a foreign state, or for acts of significant corruption by foreign public officials or their associates.

This law and the SEMA amendments bolster Canada’s broad suite of existing human rights and anti-corruption tools, and ensure that Canada’s sanctions law is calibrated to deal with current international realities. Canada will continue to take a comprehensive approach to address each unique case, which may include the use of sanctions, as necessary.