(Ottawa) The Government of Canada has acquired eight armored vehicles that will soon be heading to Ukraine. It also gives itself the power, by legislative amendment, to sell seized property to persons subject to sanctions.
Posted at 12:57 p.m.
Updated at 1:44 p.m.
Canadian Minister of National Defense Anita Anand confirmed the purchase of the armored vehicles, after US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin first made the announcement.
“Today we are announcing that Canada has finalized a contract for eight armored vehicles manufactured by Roshel, and we will supply them to our Ukrainian friends as soon as possible,” she wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.
Minister Anand is traveling in Germany. She was at Ramstein Air Base to take part in meetings of the Ukraine Defense Advisory Group organized by the United States Secretary of Defense.
Last week, Canada sent four M777 howitzers, ammunition, and a “significant number of Carl Gustaf anti-tank ammunition” to Ukraine. The artillery was drawn from the reserve of the Canadian Armed Forces.
A howitzer is a relatively short light gun that provides indirect fire support capable of accurately hitting targets at ranges up to 30 km. Canada had bought its own during the war in Afghanistan, according to CBC News.
Seizure and sale of assets
Still with a view to sanctioning the Putin regime, the Trudeau government is amending the Special Economic Measures Act in order to gain the power to sell seized assets to persons under economic sanctions.
We want “to allow the Government of Canada to take economic measures against certain persons in the event that an international organization of states or an association of states of which Canada is a member incites its members to take such measures, a serious breach of international peace and security has taken place, serious and systematic violations of human rights have been committed in a foreign State or acts of large-scale corruption involving a national of a foreign State have been committed”.
The provisions are contained in a ways and means motion.
The proceeds of the sale must be used “for the reconstruction of a foreign State injured by a serious breach of international peace and security”, “for the restoration of international peace and security” or “for the compensation of victims of a serious breach of international peace and security, of serious and systematic violations of human rights or of large-scale acts of corruption,” the motion reads.