A pair of prominent Kremlin critics will testify before MPs on Thursday in support of legislation that would regulate Canada’s law. sanctions regime, drawing on their personal experience as targets of Russian coercion.
The House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee will hear from Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian-born opposition politician and journalist, and British-American financier and activist Bill Browder as it studies Bill C-219, a private member’s bill introduced last fall by Conservative MP James Bezan.
In an interview with Global News ahead of his virtual committee appearance, Browder said he hopes all lawmakers can support the legislation.
“I would expect a unanimous vote in favor of this bill,” he said.
“It is the duty of parliamentarians, who are generally always on the right side of these issues because they face the public, to hold (the government’s) feet to the fire.”
The bill would define transnational repression in Canadian law for the first time and make the act punishable by sanctions, while expanding travel bans to include relatives of sanctioned foreign officials. The latest measure, for example, would prevent the children of autocrats from studying in Canada.
Under the legislation, the foreign minister will be required to respond to a parliamentary committee’s recommendation to impose sanctions on a foreign national by either acting or explaining why sanctions should not be imposed.
It would also require the foreign affairs minister to submit an annual report to Parliament that includes a list of “prisoners of conscience” held by foreign countries and the efforts Canada has made to secure their release.
Browder said the demand for transparency could make the government uncomfortable as it seeks to restore economic and diplomatic ties with countries like China, which continues to detain Canadians and, in the cases of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, has used detentions as a form of coercive diplomacy.
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“I think we have to have something that’s a little bit uncomfortable for the government, which is to force them to name these people, to say that these people are prisoners of conscience and that … we’re going to take care of them and they’re going to be a priority,” he said.
The private member’s bill is named after Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian tax lawyer who worked with Browder and was arrested in 2008 after exposing a massive fraud scheme involving Russian officials. He died in a Russian detention center in 2009 after, according to investigators, he was slowly tortured and denied medical treatment for his deteriorating condition.
Browder, along with Kara-Murza, soon began advocating for “Magnitsky laws” that allow governments to sanction foreign nationals responsible for human rights abuses and corruption. More than 30 countries have passed such laws, including Canada, the US and several European states.
Canada has since used its Magnitsky Act, also known as the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act, to sanction officials in Russia, Venezuela and China, among other countries.
Bill C-219 would also rename Canada’s primary economic sanctions tool to the Magnitsky Special Economic Measures Act.
“They (Russia) killed him for being a patriot, for being an honest person,” Browder said. “His death was a huge, huge blow to me because he was a friend and an ally and someone who effectively died in my service.
“His story, it’s really the ultimate story of good versus evil … and the reason there are 35 Magnitsky Acts around the world is because his story is so compelling and so compelling. And sometimes it takes an individual story like this to move mountains.”
As a result of his defense, Browder was convicted in absentia by Russia, which has sought his arrest several times through Interpol – a form of transnational repression by the Kremlin.
Kara-Murza was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2023 after condemning Russia’s war in Ukraine and calling for Western sanctions. He spent more than a year in a Siberian penal colony before being released in a 2024 prisoner swap between Russia and the US.
The activist had previously survived two suspected poisoning attempts by Russian agents in 2015 and 2017.
Transnational repression has become a growing concern among national security and law enforcement agencies in Canada, as well as diaspora communities, who have reported acts of intimidation on Canadian soil to stifle dissent from abroad.
Countries including India and Iran have been accused of sponsoring assassination attempts on dissidents in Canada — some of which have been successful, such as the killing of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia in 2023, which former prime minister Justin Trudeau said was at the hands of individuals working for the Indian government.
Browder said it was important to address loopholes in existing sanctions law, including the Magnitsky Act, and continue to hold hostile foreign actors accountable, something Bill C-219 aims to do.
“Bad guys evolve and good guys have to evolve to deal with the bad guys,” he said.
A spokesperson for Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand’s office told Global News the government was committed to working with all parties to ensure the bill’s passage, but hinted at changes it wants to see.
“Bill C-219 is well-intentioned and includes important measures to modernize our approach,” Myah Thomas said in an emailed statement, but added that “certain provisions as currently drafted could inadvertently undermine the security of Canadians, create unnecessary red tape and impede the effectiveness of sanctions.”
“With amendments, Bill C-219 has the potential to strengthen Canada’s role in protecting human rights and adapting to today’s geostrategic challenges. We will continue to have constructive discussions in Parliament to strengthen and refine this bill to bring it to a place we can support.”
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