Sajjan facing criticism over Operation Medusa comments

By: Gloria Galloway, The Globe and Mail 

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan has apologized for embellishing the role he played in a significant and deadly battle in Afghanistan, but opposition MPs say the mea culpa was insufficient and that Mr. Sajjan's fabrication has punched holes in his credibility.

A Canadian LAV-III during the 2006 Canadian-led Operation MEDUSA, in Afghanistan

The Conservatives say they will be demanding a more heartfelt acknowledgment by Mr. Sajjan of his misrepresentation and suggest the Minister's statements are part of a larger pattern of untruthfulness.

The New Democrats, meanwhile, say they will be asking whether Mr. Sajjan's description of himself as being pivotal to the battle known as Operation Medusa means he diminished the importance of his role in Afghanistan when Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson briefly examined whether he had a personal interest in scuttling a public inquiry into the treatment of Afghan detainees.

"He has said he was involved in combat and planned combat missions, he has said he was an intelligence officer, and he apparently told the Conflict of Interest Commissioner he was just there doing police capacity building. So we have three different stories," Randall Garrison, the NDP defence critic, said Sunday.

Mr. Sajjan said during a speech in India in April that he was the "architect" of Operation Medusa, a land battle between NATO and 1,400 Taliban that took place over two weeks in the late summer of 2006. Roughly 550 insurgents and 12 Canadians were killed along with a number of others.

The Minister, who was an intelligence officer in the Canadian reserves, has been praised by senior military officers for his role in that combat. But he conceded on Saturday, after two days of criticism and an ambiguous statement on Friday, that he had "made a mistake" in describing himself as the operation's key planner.

"I wish to retract that description and apologize for it," Mr. Sajjan said Saturday in a post on Facebook. "What I should have said is that our military successes are the result of leadership, service and sacrifice of the many dedicated women and men of the Canadian Forces."

The India speech was not, however, the first time that Mr. Sajjan has talked about his part in Operation Medusa in that fashion. In July, 2015, when he was a Liberal candidate, he said on a British Columbia podcast called Conversations That Matterthat General Jonathan Vance, the Chief of the Defence Staff, "said I was the architect of Operation Medusa."

The Conservatives also point out that Mr. Sajjan told reporters in December that the issue of Canada withdrawing its CF-18 jets from the fight against the Islamic State was not raised during his meetings with Iraqi ministers in Baghdad – an assertion that was later debunked in a summary by Global Affairs that said the Iraqis had asked Mr. Sajjan to "reconsider the decision on numerous occasions."

The Minister's Facebook climb down for claiming to be the architect of Operation Medusa is not enough, James Bezan, the Conservative defence critic said in a telephone interview on Sunday.

"I expect him to offer a full, sincere apology in the House of Commons at his earliest possible convenience," said Mr. Bezan. "I also think that this is a disturbing pattern of embellishing stories and misrepresenting the facts and making up alternative facts, and that this pattern is something that all of us need to critique even more."

While he did not call for Mr. Sajjan's resignation, Mr. Bezan said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will have to decide if the Minister still has his confidence.

For his part, Mr. Garrison said Mr. Sajjan's claim to have been the architect of Operation Medusa "does raise questions about both the confidence of the Canadian military in our minister and also of our NATO allies."

In March, Ms. Dawson dismissed concerns brought to her by Craig Scott, a former New Democrat MP, that Mr. Sajjan may have contravened the Conflict of Interest Act when he announced in June, 2016, that the government would not conduct an inquiry into the treatment of Afghans who had been captured by Canadian troops and turned over to Afghan security forces.

Airdrie Legion set to unveil 1st Light Armoured Vehicle Monument in Canada

By: Ryan Rumbolt, The Calgary Herald

Once a part of Canada’s military might, a light armoured vehicle is patiently waiting for its debut as a monument.

Part of the Light Armoured Vehicle (LAV) III Program, the decommissioned LAV is the first of its kind in Western Canada. The LAV was delivered to Airdrie’s Nosecreek Valley Museum on Oct. 19 and will serve as a memorial to veterans who served in Afghanistan.

A Canadian LAV (light armoured vehicle) arrives to escort a convoy at a forward operating base near Panjwaii, Afghanistan at sunrise on Nov.26, 2006. The Canadian Press has learned that Canada's foreign ministry is closely monitoring all of the country's military exports, but won't revisit the controversial decision to allow the sale of light armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Bill Graveland 

The LAV III Program recognizes the service and sacrifice of the Canadian Armed Forces in Afghanistan by providing a full-sized, demilitarized replica of the LAV III to qualified, deserving communities throughout Canada.

A veteran of peacekeeping missions in Egypt and Cyprus, retired Canadian Forces Sgt. Bob McNevin led the Airdrie LAV committee. McNevin said it is time for Canadians to start honouring the younger generation of veterans and their families, and the LAV monument is a way for the older generation to pass the torch of remembrance to veterans of more recent conflicts, such as Afghanistan and Bosnia.

“It’s these young men and women — that’s what it’s all about,” McNevin said. “I did not realize how many veterans we have in the city of Airdrie.”


Retired British Armed Forces Sgt. Bill Drummond is also with the Airdrie LAV Committee, and said many people only associate the Legion with veterans of the First and Second World Wars, and echoed McNevin’s wish to honour younger veterans.

“I think it’s a fitting tribute for the young fellas and women who put their lives on the line for world peace,” Drummond said. “To them, it means that they are being recognized — especially someone who has any kind of PTSD problems.”

The LAV III is a versatile fighting vehicle, able to reach speeds of more than 100 km/h. Drummond said Canadians were “seen as the envy of all of the United Nations troops” because the LAV is “so adaptable.”

“They were used as ambulances, they were used as mobile offices, they were used for taking troops out to advanced outposts,” Drummond said. “And they were taken there in relative safety.”

Drummond said the project to bring the LAV to Airdrie was estimated to cost around $70,000, butlocal businesses took the brunt of the financial load by donating money, transporting the LAV from Ontario and even pouring the concrete pad for the monument.

McNevin said he was stunned to see so many members of the community show their support for the LAV project by donating time, money and supplies to bring the monument to Airdrie.

“I want (veterans and their families) to see what we’ve done for them as a community,” McNevin said. “I’ve been involved in a lot of things and this is the largest rally I’ve ever seen of the community coming together.”

Currently sitting under camouflage netting, the LAV III monument will be unveiled during a ceremony Nov. 6 at the Nosecreek Valley Museum at 1 p.m.

Dion: Canada still has leverage in Saudi LAV deal

By: TONDA MACCHARLES, Ottawa Bureau reporter The Toronto Star 

OTTAWA—Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion insists Canada still has leverage over the controversial contract to sell light armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia despite the Star’s revelation that the federal government could be on the hook for a multibillion cancellation penalty.

“Each time you break a contract, there is always the danger of penalties,” Dion said Monday. “I always said that, but this is not the issue, because we’re not — we’ll respect the contract.”

At the same time, Dion insisted Canada’s hands are not tied when it comes to ensuring “that the military equipment that any Canadian company is selling abroad is not used against human rights and the interests of Canada and our allies.”

Dion said the arms “export permits allow Canada to be sure that military equipment . . . sold by Canadian companies is not misused by the country that received them.”

The Star on Saturday reported the cancellation penalty is in the multibillion-dollar range, under the contract signed by the previous Conservative government.

Cesar Jaramillo, executive director of Project Ploughshares, said his greater concern is Dion has made up his mind that the contract will continue despite valid questions about the human rights implications of proceeding with the deal.

In signing export permits for the vehicles, said Jaramillo, Canada has already given up “leverage.”

“They speak of evidence, but the threshold (for export approval) is neither certainty nor evidence, it is reasonable risk” the weaponized vehicles might be used against unarmed populations, he said. “The practical difference is if you use ‘evidence’ — this is something that takes place after the exports have taken place and after the human rights violations have occurred.”

Project Ploughshares joined Amnesty International and other groups in writing an open letter to the Liberal government asking it to halt the sale on the grounds that there is “reasonable risk — the threshold for Canadian export controls — that Canadian-made goods will be used against civilians by Saudi Arabia.”

The sale of an unspecified number of weaponized vehicles, to be built by General Dynamic Land Systems in London, Ont., was signed between Saudi Arabia and the Canada Commercial Corporation, a Crown corporation.

A briefing note for Finance Minister Bill Morneau, released under Access to Information and shared with the Star on condition the source not be identified, states clearly there is a question of liability for the government.

While the international trade minister has direct responsibility to Parliament for the Crown corporation that is the contracting party for Canadian suppliers, the document flags to the finance minister that it is he who approves the corporation’s borrowing plan and also has a direct role in approving CCC’s involvement in large capital projects.

The document, which contains redactions, identifies CCC’s signing of “a record $14.3-billion contact with Saudi Arabia for the sale of light armoured vehicles produced by General Dynamics Land Systems, and says “fees from transactions like this help maintain CCC’s financial viability.”

Liberal MP John McKay, the parliamentary secretary to the defence minister, said in an interview that if there were any move to stop the Saudi contract it would have to involve “very, very serious consideration.”

“There’s reputational damage, there’s financial damage, there’s employment damage and at the end of the day what did you actually accomplish? It’s not if the Saudis wouldn’t be able to buy LAVs. They can buy LAVs. So in an ideal world you wouldn’t have to be discussing this but this is not an ideal world.”

Members of the former Conservative government adamantly defended the contract in interviews with the Star last week. On Monday, Conservative foreign affairs critic Tony Clement clarified previous statements he’d made questioning whether the Saudi regime’s cross-border military efforts in Yemen should result in the contract’s cancellation.

Clement said “if the situation on the ground is the same as when we signed the contract, ie., that the LAVs are going to be used against terrorists, I’m in favour of implementing the contract. If there’s something different on the ground that indicates that the LAVs would be used to crush legitimate internal dissent that’s a different story.”

He now says the issue in Yemen is more complicated than when he suggested the contract should be shelved.

Ottawa Watching Saudi Arabia-Yemen Arms Transfer

By: Steven Chase, Globe and Mail 

The Trudeau government says it’s watching “very closely” what is unfolding in Yemen, the site of a Saudi-led war where Riyadh is handing over military equipment to Yemeni forces.

Ottawa won’t say, however, precisely what measures are in place, if any, to stop Saudi Arabia from transferring its Canadian-made combat vehicles to Yemeni allies.

A leading human-rights researcher warned a Senate committee in Ottawa this week that the Saudis are training, funding and equipping Yemeni forces under the control of General Ali Mohsen, a military commander from Yemen who’s been repeatedly accused of laws-of-war violations.

Were Saudi Arabia, a long-time customer of Canadian light-armoured vehicles, to be lending or giving these machines to Yemeni allies, it could jeopardize Ottawa’s ability to proceed with a $15-billion arms sale to Riyadh. Typical end-user certificates in arm sales prohibit the transfer of arms to a third party.

Pamela Goldsmith-Jones, parliamentary secretary to the Foreign Minister, said Thursday that Canada is “very concerned” about Yemen. A shaky ceasefire in the region has been regularly violated and the aerial bombing has yielded to an increasing ground campaign backed by Saudi Arabia.

Her comments come one day after Belkis Wille, with international rights watchdog Human Rights Watch, alerted Canadian senators to the possibility that this country may inadvertently be dragged into the conflict.

Ms. Wille, who lived in Yemen for 3 1/2 years, urged Ottawa Wednesday to suspend a $15-billion sale of combat vehicles to Saudi Arabia if Ottawa fails to obtain guarantees that Canadian-made combat vehicles are not among assets being handed over to Gen. Mohsen’s army.

Canada has sold Saudi Arabia hundreds of light-armoured vehicles over the past 25 years and videos and photos appearing on social media since 2015 show Canadian-made machines being deployed in the conflict with Houthi rebels in Yemen.

It’s not clear whether the Saudis, or Yemenis, are driving them.

Human Rights Watch has for years chronicled laws-of-war violations under Gen. Mohsen.

Ms. Wille said during earlier wars against Houthi rebels from 2004 to 2009, Human Rights Watch documented numerous violations under his watch “including indiscriminate attacks, killing civilians, as well as arbitrary detention and forced disappearances,” she said, referring to abductions. “The idea that this man is leading a force armed by the Saudis and crossing into Yemen is of extreme concern to any country that is arming the Saudis given the fact this force will be needing more and more equipment,” she said.

Ms. Goldsmith-Jones said Ottawa is monitoring the conflict, when asked whether Canada is worried about Canadian-made fighting vehicles being handed over to Yemeni forces and what measures are in place to stop this.

She said the sale deal with Saudi Arabia states that the vehicles cannot be used against non-combatants.

“The agreement stipulates … the goods must not be turned, as you know, against civilians.”

“We’re concerned about the Yemeni situation, of course, and human rights there, yes,” she said. “We’re very concerned about the human-rights record of Saudi Arabia and we’re following the situation with regard to Yemen very closely,” the MP said.

The department of Global Affairs declined to say whether it has any evidence that combat vehicles produced by Canada have already been used in this manner.

“Canada … calls on all parties to comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law,” Global Affairs spokeswoman Rachna Mishra said, adding that Foreign Minister Stéphane Dion “raised relevant issues” when he visited Saudi Arabia last week.

Cesar Jaramillo, executive director of Project Ploughshares, a disarmament group that tracks arms shipments, said raising concerns with Saudi Arabia is an inadequate response, particularly given recent reports chronicling eroding human-rights conditions in the Mideast country.

He said Canada must obtain, or demonstrate that it’s obtained, assurances from Saudi Arabia that place limits on how the armoured vehicles are being used.

“The likelihood of further human-rights abuses does not simply call for issues to be raised, but for specific assurances concerning the end use of Canadian-made goods to be sought and received.”

LAV Export Deal Challenged in Court

Published by Defense News, David Pugliese 

VICTORIA, British Columbia — A lawsuit that could potentially derail the largest weapons export deal in Canadian history will be heard in court as early as next month.

Daniel Turp, a law professor and former member of parliament, has filed the legal challenge in the Federal Court of Canada to prevent the export of CAN $14.8 billion (US $11 billion) of light armored vehicles by Canada to Saudi Arabia.

A Canadian LAV-III (Photo: Canadian Army)

Turp argues that the sale of the vehicles, to be built by General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada of London, Ontario, violates Canadian law which prevents the export of military goods to a nation that abuses human rights or is engaged in an active conflict.

Related:
After Saudi Executions, New Canadian Leaders Still Back $15B Vehicle Deal

Canadian PM: Human Rights Issues Won't Derail LAV Sale to Saudis

In his submission to the Federal Court, Turp noted that light armored vehicles previously built by General Dynamics Canada are being used by Saudi forces in fighting in Yemen. He has also wrote that Saudi Arabia “consistently, severely and systematically violates its citizens’ human rights.”

He has asked the Federal Court to cancel the export permits issued for the vehicles.

Doug Wilson-Hodge

, manager of corporate affairs for 
General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada, declined to comment on Turp’s legal action. Production of the vehicles has not yet begun.

Canada’s Liberal Party Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has refused to cancel the contract, which is financially guaranteed by the government. “Fundamentally, this issue is a matter of principle,” Trudeau told journalists. “The principle at play here is that Canada’s word needs to mean something in the international community. It is important that people know when they sign a deal with Canada, when they sign a commercial agreement, a change in government isn’t going to lead to that contract being ripped up.”

The Saudi deal was announced in February 2015 by Canada’s previous Conservative Party government.

The Canadian government has filed its rebuttal with the Federal Court; it acknowledged Saudi Arabia’s poor human rights record but pointed out that the country is supportive of international efforts to counter the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria as well as “countering instability in Yemen.”

"The acquisition of state-of-the-art armoured vehicles will assist Saudi Arabia in these goals, which are consistent with Canada's defence interests in the Middle East," the Canadian government argued in its response.

The case will be heard by the court in Montreal in late May or early June.

The contract has largely been shrouded in secrecy with the Saudis not even acknowledging they are purchasing the Canadian-built light armoured vehicles. Numbers of vehicles to be purchased has not been released. But analysts say Turp’s legal action may force Canada to reveal some of those details in court.

Conservative Party Prime Minister Stephen Harper also acknowledged human rights violations in Saudi Arabia but said that any of Canada’s allies would have signed a similar defense export deal with that country.

General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada has sold more than 1,400 LAVs to the Saudis over the last 20 years. The vehicles have been equipped with a variety of weapon systems, ranging from 25mm cannons to 90mm guns.

Human rights observers point out that some of those vehicles were sent in 2011 to help Bahrain’s rulers suppress a pro-democracy uprising.

Email: dpugliese@defensenews.com

Review: Ex. PROMETHEAN RAM

By: Claire Theobald, Edmonton Journal 

CFB Wainwright — The scenario is this: a Canadian military convoy carrying ammunition, fuel and food to combat units grinds to a halt after one of the trucks strikes a buried improvised explosive device.

Deep in enemy territory, force protection teams travelling in Light Armoured Vehicles take up defensive positions around the convoy, scanning the brush for combatants while others inspect the damage to the vehicle, ever watchful for secondary traps.

Suddenly, a soldier calls “Dismount from the hill” as an enemy target springs from cover.

It’s an ambush.

Canadian troops open fire, a light machine gunner pinning enemy targets under automatic gunfire while riflemen take aim, eliminating those they can and forcing others back from the convoy.

About 4,000 soldiers from across Western Canada are taking part in this operation, dubbed Promethean Ram, a month-long live-fire exercise at CFB Wainwright that is testing the readiness of Canadian troops for combat.

“We train hard to fight easy,” says Brig.-Gen. Trevor Cadieu, commander of 1 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group (1CMBG). “There is no easy fight overseas, but it is absolutely imperative that we conduct this sort of training so we can condition our soldiers to what they might face abroad.”

Soldiers of 1 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group (1 CMBG) take part in Exercise Promethean Ram, a live-fire training exercise held at CFB Wainwright, on April 21, 2016. GREG SOUTHAM

The complex, gruelling and dangerous training is a necessary part of the group’s “road to high readiness,” proving the troops are prepared to be deployed wherever the Canadian government sees fit.

“We have to show that we are competent, we are prepared and we are effective,” says Maj. Matthew Johns, with 1 CMGB out of CFB Edmonton.

After training day and night for a month, these soldiers will return to CFB Wainwright for combat training exercise Maple Resolve on May 18.

Soldiers of 1 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group (1 CMBG) take part in Exercise Promethean Ram, a live-fire training exercise held at CFB Wainwright, on April 21, 2016. GREG SOUTHAM

The combat groups will then be considered ready for deployment over the next year.

Promethean Ram’s “Level Five Combined Arms Attack” feels real — and the bullets peppering the landscape certainly are. Explosions demolish obstacles like trenches, razor wire and mine fields, throwing dirt and debris into the air while tanks roll over the terrain as infantry units hunt down and destroy enemy targets. In the distance, a CF-18 drops a 1,000-pound bomb, the resulting plume of smoke and dust visible for kilometres.

“Feeling fear is normal, in fact to a degree we think it is healthy. It heightens the senses, it focuses us,” says Cadieu, in charge of co-ordinating the units in the combined arms attack exercise. “Courage in the battle field is not about not feeling fear, it’s feeling it and then working through it.”

Exposing troops to life-like battle conditions prepares soldiers to take control without hesitation in crisis situations.

“Basic soldier skills are the fundamentals for our military. Once we hone those, soldiers have the confidence to use their gear, use their drills, defend themselves in a conflict situation. That is a fundamental of any operation they’ll take forward for any type of deployment,” says Maj. Peter Beitz, officer commanding the reconnaissance squadron with Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians).

Soldiers of 1 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group (1 CMBG) take part in Exercise Promethean Ram, a live-fire training exercise held at CFB Wainwright, on April 21, 2016. GREG SOUTHAM

Cadieu adds that Canada this year expects to send more troops to assist in a training mission with the Ukrainian military, deploy a group of 250 soldiers to eastern Europe as part of NATO reassurance measures and replenish operation IMPACT, supporting a multinational effort against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Facts and figures About Promethean Ram:

• 250 soldiers involved in each Level Five Arms Attack simulation

• 15 tanks, including Leopard 2A4 and Leopard C2 main battle tanks, two Badger armed engineer vehicles and one Taurus armoured recovery vehicle

• 20 Light Armoured Vehicles including LAV IIIs, LAV 6s and Bisons

• Soldiers armed with C-7A2 automatic rifles and C-8 carbine automatic rifles

• Light machine gunners armed with C9A2 light machine guns and C6 medium machine guns

• Artillery using M777 howitzers

• A CF-18 dropped a 1,000-pound MK 83 bomb

• Combat engineers using Bangalore explosives to blast through obstacles, including razor wire and simulated mine field

Manley: We can’t always sell weapons to people we like

By: John Manley, originally published on iPolitics 

It saddens me to watch my successor as minister of Foreign Affairs, Stéphane Dion, attacked and criticized over the sale to Saudi Arabia of light armoured vehicles manufactured in London, Ontario.

A Canadian LAV-III on patrol in Kabul, Afghanistan. 

The minister and his colleagues are, of course, right to say that the sale was negotiated and approved before they assumed office. The fact that the minister’s signature was required on the final export permits in no way contradicts the reality that to have refused to sign those permits would have breached a contract previously entered into by the Government of Canada.

If I sign an agreement to sell my house, the transaction is not completed until the day I sign the papers transferring ownership of the property to the buyer. But if I refuse to do the latter, I am clearly in breach of my prior agreement.

Beyond the contractual obligation, there are plenty of reasons to support the sale of these light armoured vehicles.

First, the defence industry is a key driver of economic activity and an important source of high-value employment. The sector encompasses more than 650 firms, supports more than 65,000 full-time jobs across the country and contributes an estimated $6 billion a year to our country’s GDP. Exports account for half of Canada’s total defence industry revenues.

Some people would prefer that we not be in the arms business at all. But not only does this industry supply some of our own defence and security requirements, it supplies our allies as well.

Should we adopt a policy of refusing to trade with people whose values are out of line with our own? Regrettably, that might leave us with a rather limited number of potential customers.

Whether one believes that Canada should offer its forces only in support of peacekeeping (a view I don’t happen to share), or should play a more robust role in global affairs, our armed forces plainly need vehicles, uniforms and ordinance to carry out their duties.

Given that requirement, it stands to reason that Canadians should want to design and manufacture this equipment — and if we’re doing so, the economics of scale dictate exporting those same products.

Second, Canada has long had interests in the region. Our armed forces have served there. Some 23 fallen Canadian soldiers and peacekeepers are buried in the Commonwealth Gaza War Cemetery near Gaza City.

It’s often said that countries don’t have friends — they have interests. Canada has an obvious interest in stability in a region in which regime change has, to say the least, not gone well in recent years. A strong Saudi Arabia, balancing Iran and its regional allies, is not a bad thing. Conversely, if you dislike the current government of Saudi Arabia (and there are good reasons to do so), you had better ask yourself who and what might replace it.

Third, as a mature country, we have to be able to deal with governments and regimes with which we do not always agree. The world is full of countries that do not share our values and beliefs. Should we adopt a policy of refusing to trade with people whose values are out of line with our own? Regrettably, that might leave us with a rather limited number of potential customers.

Canada, it should be pointed out, is not supplying the Saudis with equipment that can be used in torture or persecution of women. We are selling military vehicles — basically fancy trucks — of the sort that are required by any country’s armed forces, and which we happen to be good at making.

Finally, I find myself wondering whether the people who are now loudly proclaiming that we should block the sale of military vehicles to the Saudis are being equally vigorous in their support of a pipeline from Alberta to the East Coast — a pipeline that would reduce and perhaps end our dependence on oil imports from that same country. Somehow, I doubt it.

In my judgement, selling light armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia is good for Canada and Canadian workers, and fully justifiable on moral grounds.

----

John Manley is president and CEO of the Business Council of Canada. He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2000 to 2002.

Canadian LAV's Appear to have made an Entrance into Saudi-Yemini Conflict

By: STEVEN CHASE AND ROBERT FIFE, The Globe and Mail 

Canadian-made armoured vehicles appear to be embroiled in Saudi Arabia’s war against Yemeni-based Houthi rebels – caught up in cross-border hostilities that critics say should force Ottawa to reconsider a $15-billion deal to sell Riyadh more of these weapons.

The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis – who are aligned with Iran – has already been accused by a United Nations panel of major human-rights violations for what its report called “widespread and systematic” air-strike attacks on civilian targets. Along the Saudi-Yemen border, constant skirmishes pit Houthi fighters against Saudi ground forces such as the Saudi Arabian National Guard.

The Saudi Arabian National Guard, a buyer of many Canadian-made light armoured vehicles (LAVs) in the past decade, has published photos on its official Twitter account showing how in late 2015 it moved columns of combat vehicles to Najran, a southwestern Saudi town near the border with Yemen that is in the thick of the conflict.

A photo posted to Twitter by thee Saudi National Guard shows what appear to be Canadian made LAVs being delivered to the front lines of the Saudi-Yemini Conflict. 

A significant number of vehicles in the photos have the triangular front corners, the eight wheels and the headlamps fixed above these triangles that are familiar features in earlier LAV models made in Canada.

Neither the Liberal government nor LAV-maker General Dynamics Land Systems in London, Ont., would confirm these are Canadian machines.

But a retired Canadian general consulted by The Globe and Mail, who spoke on condition of anonymity, identified the LAVs being transported to Najran as fighting vehicles made by General Dynamics Land Systems. Stephen Priestley, a researcher with the Canadian American Strategic Review, a think tank that tracks defence spending, also identified the LAVs as Canadian-made.

Critics say having Canadian-made arms enmeshed in a conflict that has claimed more than 2,800 civilian lives should prompt Ottawa to rethink the recent $15-billion deal to sell hundreds or thousands more to the Saudis.

Canada’s export control rules for weapons shipments are supposed to require Ottawa to restrict arms exports to countries such as Saudi Arabia, that have “poor human-rights records.” Saudi Arabia, regularly ranked among the “worst of the worst” on human rights by Freedom House, qualifies for special scrutiny.

The same federal weapons export controls also say Canada should “closely control,” or be very discriminating, about shipments to countries “that are involved in or under imminent threat of hostilities.”

Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion’s department refused comment Monday when pressed on whether it is concerned about the armoured vehicle shipments, saying it’s bound to secrecy on anything to do with arms sales to the Saudis.

“In regards to your request, please see our response: For reasons of commercial confidentiality, specific contractual details cannot be shared,” Tania Assaly, a spokeswoman for Global Affairs said in a prepared statement.

The Trudeau Liberals keep trying to dissociate themselves from the increasingly controversial deal. Last week, Mr. Dion argued his government merely inherited the contract and that cancelling it would cost taxpayers huge penalties. Pressed on this, Mr. Dion’s department refused to provide details to back up the Foreign Minister’s assertion, citing the need to keep the commercial pact with Riyadh secret.

General Dynamics Land Systems Canada of London, Ont., which employs about 2,100 people, did not respond to a request for comment about whether it is concerned about the LAVs caught up in the Saudi-Yemen conflict.

Ken Epps with the anti-war group Project Ploughshares, which tracks arms sales, said the Liberal government should rethink the latest $15-billion contract with Saudi Arabia. Ottawa, not General Dynamics Land Systems, is the prime contractor in this deal, which was also brokered by the federal government.

The Trudeau government still has power over the deal. It can suspend exports of these combat vehicles.

“Given a UN report accused the Saudis of war crimes because of their bombing of civilians, then clearly our concern must be that since they are involved in war crimes there, it should give the Canadian government additional pause in shipping these kind of weapons to them,” Mr. Epps said.

The $15-billion Saudi LAV deal will provide Riyadh with weaponized armoured vehicles in what is the largest manufacturing export contract in Canadian history – but one that doesn’t garner significant public support. A recent Nanos Research poll found nearly six out of 10 Canadians surveyed feel it is more important to ensure arms exports go only to countries “that respect human rights” than it is to sustain some 3,000 jobs by selling combat vehicles to Saudi Arabia.

A new report says Saudi Arabia was the second-largest arms importer in the world between 2011 and 2015 after India as Mideast countries upped weapons purchases significantly. Shipments to Saudi Arabia rose 275 per cent in those years, by value, compared with the earlier 2006-10 period, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said.

At least one wartime footage video posted on YouTube on the Houthi-Saudi conflict also shows what appears to be a disabled Canadian-made LAV, presumably abandoned by Saudi troops as their enemies approached.

Mr. Priestley said this December, 2015, video, purported to be shot near the southern Saudi town of Al Raboah, shows a National Guard LAV-AG model, made in London, Ont., being looted by combatants.

CAF's Armoured Patrol Vehicle Delayed Again

By David Pugliese, Defence Watch 

Delivery of the Canadian military’s new armoured vehicles has been delayed once again after problems were found with the steering systems of the vehicles ordered under the $1.2-billion program.

The first of the Tactical Armoured Patrol Vehicles was supposed to be delivered in 2014. But in April, the Citizen revealed that significant technical problems dogged the armoured vehicles. Department of National Defence officials said the vehicles would start being delivered early this year.

That has been pushed back again because of additional technical problems, DND confirmed Thursday. It hopes to get the first vehicle out in August.

At one time, the $1.2-billion Tactical Armoured Patrol Vehicle (TAPV) program was seen as a Conservative government procurement project that was proceeding smoothly.

TAPV from Textron (Photo: Handout - Textron Canada) 

The government announced the project in 2009 as part of its re-equipping of the Canadian Army. Canada plans to buy at least 500 new vehicles from Textron, a U.S.-based defence firm that has set up offices in Ottawa.

The TAPV program has “experienced a number of significant technical issues, particularly affecting vehicle mobility,” then-defence minister Rob Nicholson was told in August 2014. There have been problems with the suspension, steering and other items on the vehicle, according to a briefing document released under the Access to Information law.

The technical issues significantly delayed the test program, the document added. “These accumulating incidents, which relate to the vehicle’s ability to travel distances on medium cross country terrain, led the project office to conclude the existing testing could no longer continue.”

The government is purchasing the TAPV to give troops what it calls a high degree of protection and mobility on the battlefield.

Textron officials told the Citizen in late May that a new round of testing had started and was proceeding smoothly. All the previously identified problems had been dealt with, they added.

But testing had to be halted in September 2015. That was done to investigate the reliability of the steering system, said Department of National Defence spokeswoman Ashley Lemire.

The problem was solved and testing resumed last month. Testing is to be finished in May, said Lemire.

“The technical issues have been addressed by Textron Systems Canada,” she added. “Though the government of Canada does not have present concerns, the qualification program will be completed in accordance with the contract in order to confirm that the vehicle fully meets requirements.”

Canada has an option to buy an additional 100 TAPVs. The $1.2 billion project budget also includes the building of infrastructure for the new vehicles, as well as the purchase of ammunition and service support for the equipment.

dpugliese@postmedia.com

UN Report Wants Ottawa to Cancel Saudi Vehicle Deal

Written by: Steven Chase, Globe and Mail 

A leaked United Nations report detailing human-rights violations by a Saudi Arabia-led bombing campaign in Yemen has spurred calls in Britain to suspend arms sales to Riyadh and is increasing pressure on the Canadian government to do the same.

A Canadian LAV III in Afghanistan in 2006. Globe and Mail file photo

The Trudeau government opened the door last week to halting a $15-billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia when it issued a statement saying it reserves the right to do so if events warrant – a shift in message after weeks of framing the Canadian sale of combat vehicles as a done deal.

The UN report is raising fresh hopes among critics of Canada’s unprecedented arms deal with Saudi Arabia that Ottawa might finally be persuaded to suspend the sale of weaponized armoured vehicles to a country that already has an abysmal record on human rights. The office of Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion did not immediately respond Wednesday to requests for comment.

(The Saudi arms deal: A primer on what we've learned so far)

In a new report obtained by The Guardian, a UN panel investigating the bombing campaign in Yemen has found “widespread and systematic” attacks on civilian targets in violation of international humanitarian law – revelations that are prompting the Official Opposition in Westminster to urge an immediate inquiry and suspension of British arms sales to Saudi Arabia. The Saudis and Arab allies launched a military intervention in Yemen last year in support of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi who was under threat from Houthi forces aligned with Iran.

Cesar Jaramillo, executive director of Waterloo, Ont.-based Project Ploughshares, an anti-war group that tracks arms sales, said he believes the UN panel’s findings should galvanize Canada to act on the Saudi deal.

He noted the report documented “systematic targeting” of civilians in Yemen, rather than simply indiscriminate bombing.

“This report is further evidence of the Saudi regime’s utter disregard for human rights,” Mr. Jaramillo said.

“Is this not exactly the type of report that Mr. Dion’s office said it would consider to determine whether export permits should be suspended or cancelled?”

Last week, Mr. Dion’s office announced that while the Liberals had no intention of cancelling the deal, they would not ignore developments in Saudi Arabia and would “factor this information into consideration of future permits.” Permits for exports are time-limited and would need to be renewed over the life of Canada’s 14-year arms deal with Riyadh.

According to The Guardian, the new UN report attributes 60 per cent, or 2,682, of civilian deaths and injuries in Yemen to air-launched explosive weapons dropped by the Saudi-led coalition. “The coalition’s targeting of civilians through air strikes, either by bombing residential neighbourhoods or by treating the entire cities of Sa’dah and Maran as military targets, is a grave violation of the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution. In certain cases, the panel found such violations to have been conducted in a widespread and systematic manner.”

The federal government has faced repeated requests to justify the shipment of weapons to Saudi Arabia, a country notorious for its atrocious treatment of women, dissidents and prisoners. The Liberals promised during the election campaign that they would revise Ottawa’s approach to international relations to improve this country’s reputation on the global stage, and marketed this change as “Canada’s back.”

Opposition parties on Wednesday intensified their demands for the Trudeau government to make public any study or report showing how the Saudi arms deal passes muster under Canada’s weapons export regime.

Conservative foreign affairs critic Tony Clement, whose government signed the Saudi arms deal, called on the Liberals to release those deliberations and said it’s up to the Liberals to determine if the justification for selling the armoured vehicles is still solid. “Clearly if circumstances have changed, the Government of Canada … should come clean to the Canadian people and we can have a discussion.”

NDP foreign affairs critic Hélène Laverdière urged likewise, saying the Liberals themselves were urging the release of this information when they were still in opposition.

The Saudi deal – the largest advanced manufacturing contract in Canadian history – is no ordinary transaction between a Canadian company and a foreign government.

In this deal, the Canadian government is the prime contractor, responsible for delivery of what are believed to be hundreds if not thousands of combat vehicles to the Saudi Arabian national guard. As The Globe and Mail first reported, LAVs sold to the Saudis will be equipped with anti-tank missile cannons and medium-calibre machine guns.

The former Harper government used its diplomatic resources to lobby the Saudis hard for this contract, and Ottawa is fronting the deal on behalf of General Dynamics Land Systems Canada, a Canadian subsidiary of a major U.S. defence contractor.

The deal will support 3,000 Canadian jobs over 14 years, both in London, Ont., where the vehicles are assembled, as well as across the country.

The contract is currently in the material-procurement stage.

Before an export permit is issued, federal arms-control rules require Ottawa to ensure there is no risk that arms shipped to a country with a poor human-rights record could be used against civilians.

The Liberal government still refuses to release Ottawa’s deliberations on the matter, citing commercial confidentiality.

Follow Steven Chase on Twitter: @stevenchase

Government Will move Forward on Military Vehicle Sale to Saudi Arabia

Written by Emily Chan, CTV-News

Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion says the federal government "will not cancel" a private contract that sees military vehicles sold to Saudi Arabia, despite international criticism over 47 executions that took place in the Middle Eastern kingdom this weekend.

Dion told CTV News that there have "always" been concerns, but Canada will engage in a "very vigorous process" to ensure that the LAV III light armoured vehicles are not misused.

"It is a commitment we have made that we will not cancel private contracts, but we will engage with the authorities in Saudi Arabia to make sure they’ll be properly used," he said.

The $14.8-billion arms deal, negotiated by the previous Conservative government, was expected to create 3,000 jobs in Southern Ontario.

Earlier Tuesday, Dion's communications director Adam Barratt said the government "carefully reviewed" the proposed arms export before granting a permit to General Dynamics Land Systems Canada.

"Canada ensures that … human rights considerations are seriously taken into account," Barrat said in a statement.

Conservative MP Tony Clement told CTV’s Power Play Tuesday that a review was conducted during the previous government to ensure that the equipment was being used to "fight the bad guys, fight terrorism or aggressive nations that Saudi Arabia was facing in the Middle East."

"It was specifically designed to make sure they weren’t using the equipment against their own people," he added.

This is not the first time the arms deal has come under scrutiny.

In September, Stephen Harper faced flak when a 17-year-old arrested in Saudi Arabia for participating in political protests was sentenced to beheading and crucifixion.

The issue also arose on the federal election campaign trail, and in discussions about imprisoned blogger Raif Badawi, whose wife lives in Quebec.

This weekend, Saudi Arabia's mass executions renewed focus on the controversial deal.

The federal government officially condemned the executions in a statement on Sunday.

"Canada opposes the death penalty and decries the execution of 47 individuals in Saudi Arabia on January 2, 2016," the statement read. "In the wake of these executions, we reiterate our call to the Government of Saudi Arabia to protect human rights."

The statement made no mention of the multi-billion dollar agreement to export armoured vehicles to the country. It went on to express concern that the execution of prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr could "further inflame" tensions between Shiite and Sunni Muslims in the Middle East.

Nimr's execution has already sparked widespread protests, and strained relations between Iran, which is Shiite-dominated, and Saudi Arabia and its allies.

On Tuesday, Dion also spoke out against an attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran, which occurred amid the protests.

"We disagree completely about what happened (with) the embassy in Iran -- it is not helping," said Dion.

"We want positive steps between these two countries. We invite these two countries to stay calm and to focus on what is really important, and it is to fight the terrorist group the so-called Islamic State."

Dion was also asked if Canada was considering reopening its embassy in Iran, which has been closed since 2012 because of "heightened regional tensions."

"Yes, but the government of Iran will need to take more seriously the Vienna (Convention) to protect diplomatic personnel and assets," he said.

Meanwhile, Clement said that Iran remains a "state-sponsor of terrorism," and that Canada should not reopen its embassy until Iran renounces its support for extremists groups,

"Unless the Tehran government can guarantee that diplomatic and consular assets are safe, then I think it would be the height of irresponsibility to open a mission," he said.