The Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Anita Anand, has carefully avoided reiterating her government’s support for the military strikes launched on Saturday by the United States and Israel, preferring to assert that the country “always supports international law.”
“Canada is a country that always supports international law. That is why we were with the sanctions in Iran: that is international humanitarian law. We will continue to be there for the Iranian population,” Minister Anand said from India on Monday.
Minister Anand had been criticized for not answering questions from journalists on the government trip as her boss, Prime Minister Mark Carney, canceled the planned question and answer session at the last minute. Mr. Carney had similarly avoided questions during a recent trip to Quebec in January.
No government official has echoed the statement from the Prime Minister’s office on Saturday morning, stating that Canada “supports the measures taken by the United States.” The fear of Iranian nuclear weapons and the threat to world peace justified this support. On the same day, Mark Carney added that “Canada [was] standing in solidarity with the Iranian people in their long and courageous struggle against the oppressive Iranian regime.”
Context: The Canadian government’s response to the military strikes launched by the United States and Israel in Iran.
Fact Check: The statements and reactions of Canadian officials regarding the military strikes.
Solution Pacifique?
On Monday, Anita Anand wrote on her social networks that “Canada believes in a diplomatic and peaceful solution” – words that were missing from the official statement on Saturday, except to highlight the failure of diplomatic efforts so far, before deleting her messages. On X, Elon Musk’s social network, she had also made this comment citing a post from right-wing commentator Harrison Faulkner.
The support shown by Canada for the American strikes in Iran did not go unnoticed in conservative circles, and it was notably relayed by Fox News journalist Laura Ingraham.
In a now well-known address at the Davos World Economic Forum in January, Mark Carney had referred to the existence of an international order based on rules as a “charming fiction.” His main thesis was that medium powers, including Canada, should unite against the whims of great powers.
The American and Israeli airstrikes do indeed violate international law and the United Nations Charter, as reaffirmed by UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Saturday.
Is Canada in agreement with this assertion? Minister Anita Anand avoided the question, but stated that Canada played no role in the strikes and was not informed about them. On Sunday, CBC News reported the comments of a former high-ranking Canadian military official who claimed that Ottawa should have been involved in planning the attack, a claim denied by the Department of National Defence.
Oppositions divisées
The reactions of the Canadian political class were strongly polarized regarding the legitimacy of the American action. Between enthusiastic conservatives and the condemnation of the New Democratic Party (NDP), the Bloc Québécois states that they have a position “based on international law.”
The leader, Yves-François Blanchet, described it as a “second serious precedent” and “worrying” after the recent American operation in Venezuela. He also stated that Canada and its allies aim for the fall of the Iranian regime, referred to as an “enemy.”
Pierre Poilievre, leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, in 2024 already called the idea of strikes on Iranian nuclear and oil facilities a “gift to humanity,” even as then-US President Joe Biden opposed it. The official opposition quickly praised this week’s “efforts to overthrow this [Iranian] terrorist regime” by the United States and Israel, in coherence.
In contrast, the NDP condemned the military action. “This is a dangerous escalation that risks dragging the whole region into a major conflict,” said NDP foreign affairs spokesperson Alexandre Boulerice. He described the ayatollahs’ regime as “oppressive and bloody” but maintains that the nuclear issue should be addressed by the United Nations.
The Government of Quebec did not take a position on the American attack in Iran, stating that “foreign policy matters like these fall under the federal government,” with a priority on the safety of its citizens in the Middle East.
Fact Check: Reactions of the Canadian political parties to the military strikes in Iran.
Context: Diverse responses of Canadian politicians to the military actions in Iran.
