Ottawa’s fix for unblocking Afghanistan aid creates more barriers, MPs tell minister

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino says Canada will not issue a blanket exemption to terrorism laws for humanitarian workers as allies have done, saying it risks abuse.

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino says Canada will not issue a blanket exemption to terrorism laws for humanitarian workers in places such as Afghanistan, saying the approach taken by Canada’s peers risks abuse.

“The approach outlined in Bill C-41 best mitigates those risks by potential terrorist actors,” Mendicino told the House justice committee Monday afternoon.

He was testifying on legislation he tabled last month that would amend the Criminal Code so that Canadian aid workers can carry out duties in areas controlled by terrorists without being prosecuted for inadvertently funding such groups.

The bill comes more than a year after Canada’s allies issued blanket exemptions for humanitarian aid workers to continue their work in Afghanistan, in response to the Taliban’s violent takeover of Kabul in August 2021.

Canada’s legislation takes a different tack than that of the U.S., the U.K. and the European Union, by letting aid workers apply for an exemption to help people in crisis in a geographic area that is controlled by a terrorist group.

Humanitarian groups say that more than a year ago, Global Affairs Canada warned them that purchasing goods or hiring locals in Afghanistan would involve paying taxes to the Taliban, which would be categorized under the law as contributing to a terror group.

Many aid groups have welcomed the change, but Doctors Without Borders said Ottawa should issue a blanket exemption instead of requiring groups to apply for permits.

“These amendments unfortunately create new bureaucratic hurdles for organizations to overcome,” the group argued in a press release last month.