Canadian Lawmakers Say Pro-Russia Group Tried to Derail Sanctions Law
Adam Austen, the press secretary for the foreign affairs minister, said the new Canadian law would
enable Canada to hold foreigners accountable for human rights violations and corruption.
4, 2017
As Canadian lawmakers took up legislation on Wednesday
that would bar businesses from dealing with foreigners who have committed human rights abuses, a nonprofit group called the Russian Congress of Canada pushed hard against the measure.
He said his suspicions of coordination between the Russian government and the group deepened after a speech he gave on the issue in Parliament on Monday, when he received an email from the Russian Embassy spokesman, Kirill Kalanin,
that included articles making similar pro-Russian arguments mentioned in a letter from the group.
He added that the group was founded on behalf of Russian-speaking Canadians who are "tired of the increase
in anti-Russian information campaigns." "We don’t have any connection to the embassy," he said.
In an interview, John McKay, a Liberal member of Parliament, dismissed the group as a front for the Russian Embassy in Ottawa
and cited its lobbying activities in his concerns over interference by the Russian government in Canadian affairs.