Canada
Executive Summary
Canada is a constitutional monarchy with a federal parliamentary government. In a free and fair multiparty federal election held on October 21, the Liberal Party, led by Justin Trudeau, won a plurality of seats in the federal parliament and formed a minority government.
National, provincial, and municipal police forces maintain internal security. The armed forces are responsible for external security but in exceptional cases may exercise some domestic security responsibility at the formal request of civilian provincial authorities. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) reports to the Department of Public Safety, and the armed forces report to the Department of National Defense. Provincial and municipal police report to their respective provincial authorities. Civilian authorities maintained effective control over the security forces.
Significant human rights issues included reports of indigenous women sterilized without their proper and informed consent. In addition, indigenous women suffered high rates of deadly violence, which government authorities during the year stated amounted to “genocide.”
There was no impunity for officials who committed violations, and the government took steps to identify, investigate, prosecute, and punish them.