Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly announced today, Friday, that her country will impose sanctions under the Special Economic Measures Regulations against individuals and entities responsible for purchasing and supplying weapons and military equipment to the military regime in Myanmar, as well as the Air Force commander.

The minister said - in a statement today: "The international community must step up and put greater pressure on the armed forces in Myanmar to end the deadly attacks on civilians, as we cannot remain silent while this regime continues to disregard human life."

This comes in conjunction with Myanmar Armed Forces Day on March 27, which was one of the bloodiest protest days in 2021. Canada strongly condemned the bombing of populated areas with air strikes and heavy weapons, arbitrary detention, torture, and mass killing of civilians, which exacerbated the humanitarian crisis. Canada also reiterated its call to all countries to halt all forms of operational support and to stop the direct and indirect supply, sale, or transfer of all weapons, ammunition, equipment, military materials, and dual-use equipment, and to provide technical assistance to the armed forces and security in Myanmar.