Momentum Builds in Senate for Bill to Seize and Repurpose Frozen Assets
This excerpt from the Hill Times discusses the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Bill S-217, the Frozen Assets Repurposing Act.
With the Canadian government placing sanctions on a multitude of Russian officials and oligarchs, there is renewed momentum in the Senate to pass a bill that would allow the government to seize and repurpose frozen assets.
Independent Ontario Senator Ratna Omidvar’s Bill S-217-an act respecting the repurposing of certain seized, frozen, or sequestrated assets-was reintroduced in the Red Chamber in November, after previous attempts in the 43rd and 42nd Parliaments died on the Order Paper. This time around, it has passed second reading and is now being studied by the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade.
The bill seeks to build on the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act, also called the Magnitsky law, to seize frozen assets to benefit refugees who have been forcefully displaced.
“There’s no doubt in the current context of the invasion of Ukraine, the actions of the Russian government, has given it a new urgency,” Omidvar told The Hill Times earlier this week.
She said she is “confident” the bill will pass committee and be brought back to the Senate “pretty soon.” Omidvar said she would welcome amendments that would strengthen the bill.
Bill S-217 would seize and repurpose frozen assets for individuals responsible or complicit in “extrajudicial killings, torture, or other gross violations” of human rights; the forced displacement of people; involvement in “significant corruption”; or violations of “human rights standards” under international law.
Russia has been accused of committing war crimes in its invasion of Ukraine and the offensive has led to the displacement of around 10 million people, including 57 per cent of Ukraine’s children, according to the UN.
Omidvar said the fundamental reasons for the bill remain the same, but the context for the bill has now been “sharpened.”
At second reading, it received support across the partisan spectrum, including from Conservative Senator Leo Housakos (Wellington, Que.) and Progressive Senator Pierre Dalphond (De Lorimier, Que.).
“I believe [the bill] takes the natural next step of providing justice for the victims and, in practical terms, alleviating some of the stress for those countries and agencies who are left to pick up the pieces from the damage caused by these tyrannical regimes,” Housakos said in the Senate Chamber on March 1. “It is also punitive, and, in my opinion, we need more of that. We need justice; we need fairness.”
“With Bill S-217, we have a clear opportunity to improve our domestic law to better address foreign human rights violations, and in so doing to improve the situations of victims and encourage positive action in the global community. We should seize the momentum,” said Dalphond during debate the same day.
Both Senators referenced the Russian invasion of Ukraine in their comments supporting the bill.