VZCZCXRO0421
RR RUEHQU
DE RUEHOT #0845/01 3292055
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 252055Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY OTTAWA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0092
INFO ALL CANADIAN POSTS COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 OTTAWA 000845 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
STATE FOR WHA/CAN AND WHA/CCA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL ETTC ETRD CU CA
SUBJECT: Canadian Relations with Cuba 
 
¶1. (SBU) Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade 
(DFAIT) interlocutors tell us that Canada continues to promote the 
advancement of democracy, good governance, and human rights in 
Cuba.  Canada shares the U.S. goals of promoting democracy and 
human rights in Cuba, while maintaining its self-described policy 
of "principled engagement" with both the Cuban government and 
dissident elements. The GOC believes its approach allows it to have 
a positive impact on human rights and democracy in Cuba. Canada 
maintains a diplomatic presence in Havana and conducts aid programs 
worth about C$10 million/year. 
 
 
 
¶2. (SBU) DFAIT Officials said that Canada has engaged and 
intervened on behalf of human rights and the advancement of 
democratization in Cuba a number of times over the past six months. 
According to DFAIT: 
 
 
 
-- Canadian and Cuban officials meet regularly to discuss the harsh 
treatment of dissidents. Conversations were reportedly "firm and 
frank." DFAIT officials said that meeting with dissidents is a 
normal part of Canadian diplomatic work in Cuba, with everyone from 
the ambassador downward engaging in human right outreach. DFAIT 
contacts assert that "Ambassador Juneau and other Embassy staff 
meet regularly with dissidents, journalists, economists" and that 
"the Ambassador also discusses human rights in his meetings with 
the Cuban government."  DFAIT contacts pointed to a Canadian 
embassy presence on the scene monitoring of "the siege of the house 
of dissident Vladimiro Roca" by a "Cuban government associated 
crowd" as typical of their on-going and continuous human rights 
outreach. DFAIT contacts did not have information on the status of 
the journalists and economists (independent versus 
government-affiliated) with whom embassy officers meet regularly. 
 
 
 
-- The Canadian Embassy in Havana had been scheduled to open its 
eighth Canadian Studies Center in Cuba in July, but did not do so 
for budgetary reasons. These centers, funded by Canada and run by 
the Cuban Ministry of Education, reportedly inform the general 
populace about life in a democratic country with a market-based 
economy.  The Canadian Government also regularly sends speakers to 
these venues, as well as funds economics professors teaching modern 
economic theory at the University of Havana. 
 
 
 
-- the Canadian Foundation for the Americas (FOCAL), a Canadian 
government-funded think tank, runs a series of  programs (in 
Canada) on Cuba that focus on support for dissidents and 
democratization. FOCAL documents all Cuban government actions 
against dissidents, supports an active dialogue on planning for the 
post-Castro area, and assists civil society programs on human 
rights and democracy. 
 
 
 
¶3. (SBU) According to DFAIT officials, high-level diplomatic visits 
between Cuba and Canada over the past six months have included a 
visit to Cuba by the Canadian Minister of State for the Americas 
Peter Kent.  The Government of Cuba cancelled his previous visit, 
planned for mid-May, after Kent told reporters that he aimed to use 
his scheduled meeting with Cuban President Raul Castro to raise 
democratic reform and human rights. DFAIT contacts say the Cuban 
government had also taken offense at  that time to strong pro-human 
rights statements by Prime Minister Harper. 
 
 
 
¶4. (SBU) Kent visited Havana November 12-14, meeting with Foreign 
Minister Bruno Rodriguez, Trade and Foreign Investment Minister 
Malmierca, and the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Dagoberto 
Rodriguez, and the Archbishop of Havana, Cardinal Ortega.  He did 
not meet with dissidents because the Cuban government would not 
have permitted his visit to go forward if he planned to do so, 
according to DFAIT contacts.  DFAIT contacts say Kent did engage in 
lengthy discussions on human rights with all three of the senior 
Cuban government officials as well as the Archbishop.  DFAIT 
contacts described the discussions as "good, substantive" ones, 
covering the need for Cuba to release all political prisoners, 
accede to a visit by the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, and sign 
on to the two primary UN human rights covenants. 
 
OTTAWA 00000845  002 OF 002 
 
 
¶5. (SBU) Minister Kent also met with representatives of Cuban 
government-sanctioned civil society organizations, including the 
Centro Felix Varela, Inter Press Service, and the Centro Nacional 
de Educacion Sexual (the organization head by Raul Castro's 
daughter Mariela). 
 
 
 
¶6. (SBU) DFAIT interlocutors decline to provide us with information 
on specific Canadian companies operating in Cuba or confirm open 
source information about them.  Media reports indicate that Canada 
remains Cuba's third largest trade partner, with trade growing by 
9.4% in 2008. Canadian companies operate in a variety of sectors of 
the Cuban economy, including tourism, construction, agriculture, 
bio-technology, and mining.  According to Canadian Government 
statistics, annual two-way trade between Cuba and Canada was C$1.66 
billion in 2008.  Canadian exports to Cuba in 2008 were worth 
C$768,389,688.  Canadian imports from Cuba amounted to 
C$895,242,425.  Canadian merchandise exports to Cuba rose 36.3% in 
2008 to $768.1 million and included machinery, inorganic chemicals, 
cereals, and vegetables. Imports from Cuba decreased 15.3% in 2008 
to $895.2 million and included mineral ores, copper, tobacco, 
beverages, fish and seafood.  Tourism is Cuba's largest source of 
foreign exchange and Canada is Cuba's largest source of tourists, 
with 818,000 Canadians visiting in 2008, nearly 35 per cent of all 
visitors to Cuba.  Media reports indicate that leading Canadian 
firms doing business with Cuba: Sherritt International, Pizza Nova, 
Labatt. Sherritt is the largest foreign investor in Cuba, according 
to press reports. 
 
 
 
¶7. (SBU) Canada has no bilateral trade agreements with Cuba. 
According to DFAIT, Canada and Cuba held exploratory talks on a 
Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPA) in 
February 2009.  Canada is currently consulting with Canadian 
investors in Cuba before deciding whether  to go ahead with further 
negotiations.  In November 2009, Canada and Cuba concluded an 
expanded air transport agreement. The new agreement provides for up 
to five designated Canadian airlines (an increase from two) and 
unlimited points of destination in Cuba, an increase from four 
points previously available to scheduled carriers.  On April 22, 
2008, Canadian Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and his Cuban 
counterpart renewed an MOU on agricultural cooperation. This 
involves Canadian technical assistance in various areas of Cuba's 
agricultural sector, for example providing Canadian expertise to 
train Cubans in livestock production practices and animal genetic 
techniques, as well as the management of irrigation systems. 
 
 
 
¶8. (U) Canada has no formal exchange programs specific to Cuba. 
Canada has initiated academic exchanges, including scholarships for 
Cuban students under the hemisphere-wide C$18-million Emerging 
Leaders in the Americas Program (ELAP) announced by Prime Minister 
Harper at the Summit of the Americas in April. In the first ELAP 
competition, Canada awarded scholarships to 11 Cuban students for 
study or research in Canada. Selected ELAP students will have the 
opportunity to attend a Canadian government designed "Democracy 
Study tour" in Ottawa to expose students to Canadian models of good 
governance, including the rule of law, human rights, government 
accountability, freedom of the press, and multiculturalism.  In 
addition, many exchanges occur informally between organizations 
such as high school sports teams and cultural groups. 
JACOBSON