Evaluation of Global Affairs Canada’s Sanctions Operations

Economic sanctions are a unique foreign policy tool implemented through domestic regulations. Canada implement multilateral sanctions as directed by the United Nations Security Council as well as its own autonomous sanctions. From 2018 to 2024, the sanctions landscape changed dramatically, which was not foreseen at the time that the Sanctions Policy and Operations Coordination Division (PER)* was first created. Prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, sanctions were mostly applied to countries with which Canada had minimal economic relations. Sanctions have since become a preferred option and the exponential increase in sanctions packages has had an array of consequences for sanctions operations. It has also highlighted the tensions between sanctions as a domestic regulatory program and as a foreign policy tool.

Publisher

Global Affairs Canada

Resources

4

Catalogue metadata updated

2026-09-01