Canadian Mounties Now Investigating Russian “War Crimes”

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), whose domestic responsibilities are the equivalent of the American FBI, have opened a new investigation into alleged war crimes in Ukraine. In what seems to be a sign of solidarity with their European counterparts, Canada is joining the fray to gather information about the Russian invasion and the acts of war committed.

The aims of the recently convened team of investigators are to gather intelligence on the conflict for domestic purposes and to aid a possible war crimes tribunal in the International Criminal Court. The RCMP evidence collection scheme will be done primarily through interviews with recently landed refugees and immigrants, as well as voluntary and open-sourced contact on government websites. Anyone who has witnessed, or has photographic/video evidence, is urged to come forward and help authorities with their experiences.

As the RCMP announced in a press briefing:

“Under the purview of the War Crimes Program, the RCMP has launched a national structural investigation into allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Ukraine. The RCMP is the only law enforcement entity in Canada with the mandate to investigate such crimes…important information and evidence [will be] gathered from Ukrainians entering Canada who wishes to provide it, and properly documented and secured for future criminal investigations. It is essential that such information be collected and protected at the earliest opportunity, to ensure it is not lost with the passage of time and to preserve crucial evidence for future prosecutions.”

The Arbitrary Application of Labels

The Canadian government is on record as saying that its War Crimes Program upholds the position that Canada is not a “safe haven for anyone involved or complicit in crimes against humanity, war crimes or genocide.” And that they take great pride in “taking action against persons responsible for atrocities, and our coordinated program is a successful model of interdepartmental cooperation in the battle against impunity.”

In short, Canada is marshalling the powers of the Border Agency (CBSA), the Immigration Ministry, the federal Department of Justice, and the RCMP to ensure they aren’t being hypocritical in regards to their position on the Ukrainian War narrative. For it would look really embarrassing if they were bolstering Zelensky on the one hand while allowing criminal Russian operatives to infiltrate the country on the other.

On top of this, Canada is a signatory to many global conventions and statutes revolving around war crimes, genocide, torture, and crimes against humanity. So their cooperation in the collection of relevant information is not really surprising as their general position is towards crimes against humanity in general.

That is to say… it’s as arbitrary, self-serving, and disappointing as you would expect a junior partner to US hegemony to be.

Case examples from the WWII era (Appendix 1 of this government report gives specific infractions by Nazis and their collaborators) show how the Canadian government will, to this very day, revoke citizenship and extradite persons for trials around the globe based on their actions from 75 years ago.

But will they do the same if openly fascistic Azov Battalion members cross into Canadian territory? Or is the overarching narrative simply that Ukraine is good and Russia bad? Will certain war crimes on the Zelensky side of the ledger be ignored? Possibly even celebrated?

And how about direct Canadian material support for Saudi Arabia and their crimes against humanity in Yemen? Do they simply not exist because Trudeau ignores the issue and defies international treaties like the ATT (2019)? As various human rights organizations have rightly pointed out that Canada is “violating international law by selling weapons to Saudi Arabia [and groups including] Amnesty International Canada and Project Ploughshares, are urging Ottawa to suspend all arms exports to Riyadh.”

Even the likes of CTV News have criticized PM Trudeau by stating that his “government is facing renewed calls to end arms exports to Saudi Arabia following a new report that alleges there is “persuasive evidence” that Canadian-made weapons are being used in the war in Yemen, which has killed at least 233,000 people.”

For a frame of reference, about 13,000 in total have been killed in Ukraine thus far. So Canadian complicity in crimes against humanity is not as clear-cut as the Liberal Party of Canada would have you believe.

Canada supports human atrocities when it suits its interests. For extensive and historical evidence, you can ask its Indigenous peoples.