432-01224 (Foreign affairs)

WHEREAS

• Canada and Cameroon, both officially English-French bilingual countries, have nearly 60 years of direct diplomatic relations, along with years of cooperation on military training;

• Since 2016, rights groups in Canada and Cameroon have documented over 3,000 deaths, more than 200 villages burned, and hundreds of serious human rights abuses, including crimes against humanity, during the Anglophone Crisis in Cameroon's English-speaking regions;

• Members of the Cameroonian government and military have been implicated, directly or through command responsibility, in serious human rights abuses, including atrocity crimes as defined by International Humanitarian Law and documented by impartial, international human rights organizations;

• Canada's Military Assistance Steering Committee (MASC) oversees the Military Training and Cooperation Programme (MTCP), and is responsible for recommending to the Ministers of National Defence and Foreign Affairs which countries should be suspended or added to the MTCP list;

• Cameroon does not appear to meet the eligibility criterion of MTCP which states that member countries are non-oppressive and adhere to human rights standards."

We, the undersigned citizens and residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada, to:

• Suspend or remove Cameroon from the eligible list of MTCP countries.