EDITORIAL: Canada now a paper tiger on human rights

Canada was silent when Iran was nominated to a United Nations body

Published Apr 16, 2026  •  Last updated 12 minutes ago  •  2 minute read

Prime Minister Mark Carney. Photo by Brook Mitchell /Getty Images

The Carney-Trudeau Liberal government has long prided itself on being a fierce defender of human rights, but it’s a false claim.

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Not when you’re praised by Hamas three times, downplay forced labour in China, back away from your previous allegations of targeted assassination, extortion and other violent crimes carried out by India in Canada, and remain silent when Iran is nominated for a United Nations committee on human rights.

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Particularly so when:

— You’ve classified Hamas as a terrorist organization since 2002.

— Your own foreign interference inquiry identified China as “the most active perpetrator of foreign interference targeting Canada’s democratic institutions.”

— Your allegations against India were made by your own ex-prime minister and national police force, saying they had strong evidence of criminal wrongdoing.

— You officially designate Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism and classify 10 of its proxies — the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps; the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force; Hamas; Hezbollah; Palestinian Islamic Jihad; the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine; the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command; the Houthis; Harakat al-Sabireen and the Fatemiyoun Division— as terrorist organizations.

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Indeed, to paraphrase Prime Minister Mark Carney’s famous speech in Davos, the sign in the window that no one believes should be that Canada is a fierce defender of human rights.

In the latest example, as reported by the human rights organization UN Watch, Canada was silent when the UN’s 54-nation Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) nominated Iran to the UN’s Committee for Program and Coordination, which shapes UN “policy on women’s rights, human rights, disarmament, and terrorism prevention.”

Because ECOSOC’s nomination is effectively decisive, as the UN General Assembly customarily rubber-stamps such nominations, the U.S. publicly objected, calling Iran “unfit,” unlike Canada and other countries, which did not.

The feds say their reason was that since Iran was nominated by acclamation by the Asia-Pacific bloc of UN countries, there was no vote and no way to register Canada’s objection, even though it does not support electing Iran to influential positions at the UN.

But Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, said Canada and other countries failed to use other means available to them to express their opposition to the nomination, which will be formally decided in November.

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