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e-3640 (Foreign affairs)

E-petition
Initiated by Isaac Saney from Halifax, Nova Scotia

Original language of petition: English

Petition to the Government of Canada

Whereas:
  • The Government of the United States wages an economic war against Cuba, which is the principal obstacle to Cuba’s social and economic development, causing damages exceeding $100 billion;
  • The Government of the United States pressures and coerces other countries to participate in its more than 60-year economic war against Cuba;
  • The Government of the United States relentlessly organizes, finances, and orchestrates a campaign of disinformation, aggression, and subversion of Cuba’s legitimate constitutional order;
  • U.S. economic sanctions, constituting an economic blockade, and the campaign of subversion against Cuba are a violation of international law, the right of self-determination and the human rights of the people of Cuba; and
  • The international community, including Canada, repeatedly rejects the economic war against Cuba through overwhelming votes in the United Nations General Assembly and in other international forums.
We, the undersigned, citizens and residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to:
1. Request an end to all economic sanctions against Cuba;
2. Ask that the Government of the United States cease its campaign of subversion, hostility, and aggression against Cuba;
3. Request that the Government of the United States remove Cuba from the U.S. Department of State’s State Sponsors of Terrorism list;
4. Take immediate steps and actions to preserve Canadian sovereignty, ensuring Canadian companies and other entities do not participate in U.S. economic sanctions against Cuba through, inter alia, the enforcement of the Foreign Extraterritorial Measures Act; and
5. Ensure that Canada’s relations with Cuba are based on equality and the respect of sovereignty, independence, and the right of self-determination.

Response by the Minister of Foreign Affairs

Signed by (Minister or Parliamentary Secretary): Maninder Sidhu

Canada and Cuba enjoy a constructive relationship based on a long tradition of mutually beneficial partnerships in a range of sectors, commercial relations and close interpersonal ties.

Canada has adopted measures to mitigate the extraterritorial effects of the U.S. embargo against Cuba through the enactment of the Foreign Extraterritorial Measures Act (1985) and subsequent orders. Moreover, Canada has consistently voted in favour of Cuba’s annual resolution at the United Nations General Assembly calling for an end to the U.S. embargo.

Canada will continue to engage with both countries to promote human rights, democracy and inclusive growth and to address regional challenges.

Open for signature
October 29, 2021, at 8:31 a.m. (EDT)
Closed for signature
February 26, 2022, at 8:31 a.m. (EDT)
Presented to the House of Commons
Niki Ashton (Churchill—Keewatinook Aski)
March 28, 2023 (Petition No. 441-01207)
Government response tabled
May 11, 2023
Photo - Niki Ashton
Churchill—Keewatinook Aski
New Democratic Party Caucus
Manitoba