NDP says Ottawa appeasing Trump through its silence on global court sanctions

NDP MP Heather McPherson speaks during a press conference at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa, on Wednesday, June 3, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby

OTTAWA — The federal NDP says the Carney government’s statements of support for international law are ringing hollow as it keeps silent on Washington’s sanctions on a Canadian judge.

While Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand has rejected a call by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to “dismantle” the International Criminal Court, she has never directly opposed Washington’s sanctions on Winnipeg-born ICC judge Kimberly Prost.

“At a moment in time where we see the U.S. pulling away from international law, this is an opportunity for Canada to step up,” NDP foreign affairs critic Heather McPherson said Tuesday.

“As a Canadian lawmaker, as a Canadian citizen, more worrying for me is the silence that we’ve seen from our federal government on this.”

U.S. President Donald Trump has targeted the UN court for investigating Israeli officials and preliminary work it did in the past involving Americans.

Trump imposed sanctions on 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.

Rubio stepped up his attacks on the court this week. He urged allies to pull out of the court and claimed it would try to bring American border agents, federal prosecutors and U.S. Marines before The Hague in an attempt to undermine American sovereignty.

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 ICC has never formally investigated or charged an American.

The court was established in 2002 to prosecute genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in cases where individual nations are not able or willing to do so.

On July 17, Anand said Canada would not be leaving the ICC.

“There is no scope for political interference in terms of the work that judges do. That is absolutely clear,” Anand told a news conference last Friday.

“Canada is a founding member of the ICC and will continue to be a strong supporter of the ICC and its mandate, as we have been since it was established. Therefore, we’ll continue to advocate for the court’s independence, its impartiality and its integrity.”

Last month, Prost and two other ICC judges challenged the sanctions in a New York court. Sabine Nolke, Canada’s former ambassador to The Hague, has called on Ottawa to submit a brief in support of Prost’s legal challenge.

Anand said Canada supports all ICC judges regardless of their nationality and isn’t involved in Prost’s case.

“We are a founding member of the ICC and believe in the need to stand up for the organization and in particular the impartiality of judges as being fundamentally important,” Anand told The Canadian Press in a Monday interview.

“As judges, they are representing the law on the court. They’re not representing countries, per se. They are adjudicating the law and they all share that same responsibility. So we support the institution and I am not involved in the case.”

Canada has pushed back generally against the sanctions without directly criticizing them the way France has.

Ottawa endorsed one 2025 multinational statement arguing that ICC sanctions “increase the risk of impunity for the most serious crimes and threaten to erode the international rule of law,” and another that said supporting the ICC “is of paramount importance during this time of continued threats to the court.”

McPherson said Ottawa is appeasing Trump by not taking concrete steps to defend international law.

“They’re hiding behind waffling language. We’ve seen this from Minister Anand before. If she wanted to stand up for a Canadian citizen -- which is, frankly, the job of the federal government to do -- she has tools to use that she’s chosen not to use,” McPherson said.

“For those who are on the front line of protecting international law, when a country like Canada refuses to stand up for that, that undermines those systems, absolutely. And the rest of the world sees that.”

The Edmonton MP sent a letter Tuesday to Anand and Justice Minister Sean Fraser calling on them to use the Foreign Extraterritorial Measures Act to bar Canadian firms from enforcing the U.S. sanctions. Canada has used that law in the past to prevent Canadian firms from enforcing American sanctions related to Cuba.

“Your government is no longer supporting the international legal system,” her letter reads.

“You have refused to publicly support Judge Prost’s legal case and have refused to demand the United States drop these unjust sanctions.”

The letter notes Canada has supported Ukrainians, Syrians and the Rohingya of Myanmar in international courts and says it’s hypocritical of Ottawa not to offer the same level of support to Palestinian or Sudanese civilians.

Countries that are members of both the ICC and the UN Security Council -- including Congo, Colombia and the U.K. -- issued a statement last week saying they are committed to safeguarding the ICC’s “integrity, against any threats or actions aimed at the court, its officials or its partners.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 21, 2026.