The United States government announced this week that a Quebec-based company will be the principal contractor in a “possible” $61-million US sale of high explosive mortar cartridges and related equipment to Israel.
According to a notice published by the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency on Tuesday, “The Government of Israel has requested to buy fifty thousand (50,000) M933A1 120mm High Explosive (HE) mortar cartridges with M783 fuzes.”
“The principal contractor will be General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems Inc., located in Quebec, Canada.” The value of the potential sale, which has been approved by the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, is equal to approximately $83 million Canadian.
The goods and related equipment will be added to a previous sale valued at approximately $410,000 US, below the threshold at which the American government is required to notify Congress, according to the notice. Deliveries are expected to begin in 2026.
The potential mortar cartridge sale is part of a total of $20 billion US in weapon exports to Israel that the U.S. government announced it had approved this week.
The news shatters the Trudeau government’s repeated claims that only “non-lethal” Canadian goods have been approved to make their way to Israel since the beginning of that state’s brutal war on Gaza last October, which prompted a genocide case against it at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) back in December.
According to arms-monitoring groups, the potential sale also highlights a major loophole in Canada’s export controls, given the lack of adequate regulations over military goods that flow to other countries via the United States.
The Trudeau government announced in March that it was pausing approvals of new export permits for direct sales of military goods to Israel. However, that measure did not apply to any permits approved before January 8, or military goods that flow to Israel via the U.S.
Emma Paling
Last month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau falsely told a member of the public that “we’ve stopped exports of arms to Israel.”
Kelsey Gallagher, a researcher with Project Ploughshares, told The Maple: “If these transfers were proposed for export directly from Quebec to Israel, they would be denied, and there’s absolutely no justification for their export simply due to the contracting body being the U.S. government.”
“Canada has routinely made the case that it does not export what it describes as ‘lethal’ military goods to Israel. This most recent announcement clearly indicates otherwise.”
Gallagher noted that a major driver in Israel’s “disturbing disregard for human life” during its ongoing operation in Gaza has been its reliance on explosive weapons in populated civilian areas.
“We know when militaries use explosive weapons in populated areas, nine out of 10 casualties usually are civilians,” he explained.
The announcement, Gallagher said, also highlights a need for Canada to honour its obligations under the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) by universally applying its military export control regime to all destinations, including the U.S. The current loopholes that allow goods to flow to the U.S. with little oversight are, he said, a feature of the system and not a bug.
“When we don’t see the comprehensive introduction of regulations, this is what happens,” said Gallagher.
To date, Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 39,965 people, including nearly 16,500 children. However, in July, an article published in the medical journal The Lancet stated that “it is not implausible to estimate that up to 186,000 or even more deaths could be attributable to the current conflict in Gaza.”
Rachel Small, an organizer with World Beyond War (WBW), said the potential mortar cartridge sale highlights an egregious example of what anti-war groups and other civil society organizations have been drawing attention to for months.
“The government is obfuscating the truth at best, or frankly, is lying about the Canada-Israel arms trade,” said Small. “This announcement destroys any notion that the Liberal government’s statements on this issue have been truthful.”
Alex Cosh
Other Canadian products that could be ending up in the Israeli military’s hands via the U.S. include components found in the American-made F-35 fighter jet, which Israel has used to conduct deadly airstrikes on Gaza.
“What is maybe unique about [the mortar cartridge] case is that we are being shown in advance the end destination for some of these products, and therefore we have an opportunity right now to intervene,” said Small.
The U.S. loophole, Small explained, represents “an incredibly blatant example of how Canada has divested the idea of having its own independent foreign policy, and instead seems to be perfectly happy to rely on the U.S. to make decisions for us about what weaponry made in Canada can be exported anywhere in the world.”
Global Affairs Canada (GAC), which is responsible for Canada’s export control regime, did not respond to a request for comment from The Maple by publication time. This story will be updated if the ministry provides a response.
General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems Inc. (GD-OTS) describes itself as “a world-class developer and manufacturer of ammunition adapted to the needs of the armed forces and law enforcement agencies.” Its Canadian branch is a subsidiary unit of the U.S.-based arms manufacturing giant, General Dynamics.
According to GD-DOTS’ website, the company is recognized by the Canadian government as “the centre of excellence for the maintenance and further development of an industrial defence capability in production.”
Gallagher explained that the company exports significant quantities of ammunition products to the U.S., and that these sales tend to fluctuate depending on whether or not the U.S. is engaged in conflicts around the world. The company also regularly supplies goods for other countries, including Ukraine, via the U.S.
However, Gallagher said there are major transparency issues around the U.S. Foreign Military Sales program, meaning that arms monitoring groups cannot be certain that all such contract awards are being made public. As well, only those that exceed the congressional disclosure threshold are revealed publicly.
It is therefore unclear whether or not other Canadian companies may be involved in such sales, Gallagher noted.
GD-OTS did not respond to a request for comment from The Maple. This story will be updated if the company provides a response.
Alex Cosh is the news editor of The Maple.
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