Negotiated by Stephen Harper's Conservative government in 2014, a $15 billion Canada-Saudi Arabia arms deal would see Ontario-based General Dynamics Land Systems manufacture light-armored military vehicles for the Saudi Arabian National Guard. In a joint open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on April 25, the heads of 16 development, human rights and arms control groups in Canada — including Amnesty International, Project Ploughshares and the Rideau Institute — laid out the case for rescinding the agreement.
Their opposition is based on two elements. First, they argue that "such a large supply of lethal weapons to a regime with such an appalling record of human rights abuses is immoral and unethical." The regime uses an array of weapons, including light arms, to harass, intimidate and attack political opponents and protesters.
The second element is that it violates both the spirit and letter of domestic export controls and international human rights law. The Riyadh regime, they insist, satisfies the criterion of "persistent record of serious violations of the human rights of their citizens" for refusing the export of Canadian arms. Moreover, it is also "involved in or under imminent threat of hostilities" in Yemen, where Saudi Arabia has been alleged, by a U.N. panel of experts, to have carried out crimes against humanity by targeting civilians.