In 2016 and early 2017, Canada’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development (FAAE) reviewed Canada’s Special Economic Measures Act (“SEMA”) and the Freezing Assets of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act. The SEMA was enacted to authorize the Governor in Council (Cabinet) to promulgate unilateral economic sanctions against states, as well as individuals and entities within them. Simply put, under SEMA, legal trade can become illegal. The Freezing Assets of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act was enacted in 2011 to respond to the events of the Arab Spring. Simply put, it is a mechanism to prevent the flight or liquidation of any assets of deposed foreign officials found in Canada before the new governments could seek their recovery.
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