Canada is aiding some of the world’s most repressive governments with military goods. According to Global Affairs Canada’s (GAC) recently released 2023 Exports of Military Goods and Technology report, Canada continues to transfer massive quantities of weapons to antidemocratic governments and states accused of war crimes.

This data contradicts Canada’s self-promotion as a defender of peace and democratic values on the world’s stage and is further evidence of an ongoing trend of Canadian arms flowing into the stockpiles of human rights abusers. The GAC report shows that last year Canada exported military goods valued at CAD $2.143 billion to non-US destinations. Although the United States is typically the largest consumer of Canadian-made weapons, Canada neither regulates nor reports most of its arms exports to its southern neighbor. Including these figures would dramatically increase the total reported value associated with the Canadian arms trade.

According to Freedom House, nearly half of Canada’s reported weapons transfers in 2023 — valued at $1.04 billion, or 49 percent of the total — were destined for authoritarian states, such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar.