Prime Minister Mark Carney said Wednesday that Canada's support for the International Criminal Court is "unequivocal" but he stopped short of criticizing U.S. President Donald Trump's sanctioning of a Canadian judge.
"Canada is a proud member of the International Criminal Court. We support it with funding, we support it with personnel, we support it with our values, we support it with our actions. And we will continue to do so," Carney told a Toronto news conference.
"It provides an essential service in a world that is more dangerous, more divided."
Trump sanctioned Winnipeg-born ICC judge Kimberly Prost last August over her work on a case involving American troops in Afghanistan.
Canada — unlike France — has never directly criticized the U.S. sanctions, which have left Prost unable to use most credit cards or multinational services like Amazon or airlines.
"We'll provide support as needed and we work with our American colleagues on a variety of issues to work to achieve results, but our support for the ICC is unequivocal," Carney said.
Prost said in February that the Canadian Embassy in The Hague had helped her and told her that Ottawa had contacted Canadian banks to discuss how they should proceed.
She said those Canadian banks told her they needed to cancel her credit cards and explained which services they could still provide within legal limits.
The NDP has urged Ottawa to go further by using the "blocking statute" under the Foreign Extraterritorial Measures Act, which would allow Ottawa to bar Canadian businesses from enforcing the U.S. sanctions.
Prost is asking a New York court to reverse the sanctions.
The Trump administration stepped up its attacks on the court last month. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has pledged to "dismantle" the ICC and has urged allies to pull out of the court, which has never formally investigated or charged an American.
While the U.S. and Israel are not members of the ICC, the court can still investigate Americans or Israelis in connection with incidents involving victims from member states.
The Trump administration has also criticized the ICC for issuing an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding war crimes in the Gaza Strip.
Carney has in the past said Netanyahu would be arrested if he entered Canada, though the government has allowed Netanyahu's plane into Canadian airspace on trips to Washington.
On Wednesday, Carney said Canada's various diplomatic appointments speak to the importance Ottawa attaches to international law and the ICC is particularly vital as the world gets more dangerous.
He did not cite specific diplomatic appointments. Carney chose his longtime friend David Lametti as Canada's ambassador to the UN and praised Lametti's experience in international law.
Last month, Ottawa said it supported the decision by ICC members to oust prosecutor Karim Khan — who rejects allegations of sexual harassment — but would not say how Canada voted. France and the Netherlands said publicly they supported his expulsion in order to preserve the institution's integrity.
Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout — International Criminal Court (left), AP-Omar Havana (right)
