Will Canada Stand with Cuba at the UN?

Stephen Kimber and John Kirk / October 21, 2026 / 3 min read

Canadian PoliticsLatin America and the CaribbeanUSA Politics

On October 28, the United Nations will vote—for the 33rd time—on a Cuban government-sponsored resolution demanding an end to “the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba.”

Cuba claims the nearly 65-year-old embargo—the longest-running commercial embargo against any single nation in modern history—has cost its economy close to US$180 billion, and counting.

Despite intense pressure from the Trump administration in the lead-up to last year’s UN vote, Cuba’s resolution once again passed by an overwhelming majority: 165 countries in favour, seven against and 12 abstentions.

Canada, as it had in every vote since 1992, voted in favour.

But will the Carney government do so again this year?

It should. But it isn’t clear that it will.

According to a July 2026 report by the UN Human Rights Council, US regime-change pressures have transformed Cuba into a “silent Gaza” and created a “devastating” humanitarian crisis.

In January 2026, the Trump administration imposed an oil blockade on Cuba, threatening tariffs on any country providing fuel to the island. As a result, most Cubans now have only three to four hours of electricity a day. Air conditioning is almost nonexistent, public transportation is limited, and garbage collection has largely disappeared. Food security is at risk. In 70 percent of Cuban households, at least one person eats less or skips meals because of food shortages. An estimated one-third of Cubans experience daily water shortages.

Critical hospital generators have been affected. Ninety-six thousand patients, including 11,000 children, are waiting for surgery. More than 4,500 cancer patients cannot get the surgery they need because essential equipment isn’t working (US laws forbid the export to Cuba of equipment containing more than 10 percent US-made components).

US policies even impede the delivery of nongovernmental humanitarian assistance, blocking bank transfers, and imposing other barriers.

That UN report concludes that US policy has “affected the rights to food, to freedom from poverty, to a decent life and to health, economic, social and cultural rights, the right to development and the achievement of relevant Sustainable Development Goals.”

In his much-lauded January 2026 speech in Davos, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called for a “new order that embodies our values, like respect for human rights, sustainable development, solidarity and territorial integrity of states.”

In July 2026, when Cuba—faced with an escalating, US-created humanitarian crisis—asked for an emergency UN debate on the embargo, Canada was among 30 countries to abstain.

Theoretically, Canada’s excuse was “procedural.” Cuba was asking to reopen a debate outside the UN’s scheduled autumn session.

But we need to understand that abstention for what it was: a craven abandonment of Carney’s Davos principles in the unspoken name of trade-war pragmatism.

Ahead of the July vote, a leaked US cable directed US embassies to explicitly warn traditional Cuba supporters like Canada: “The United States will be listening very closely to their remarks at the debate and discouraging the use of points that might create friction in our bilateral relationships.”

Canada officially said nothing, then abstained.

If we are to take Carney’s pronouncements about a new world order seriously, Canada needs to once again clearly state its objections to the US embargo at the United Nations by voting in favour of this month’s resolution.

So far, Canada has provided a picayune $13.5 million in humanitarian aid. We need to send far more, quickly and openly, demonstrating “solidarity” with a country with which we’ve maintained diplomatic relations for nearly 70 years.

The US has pressured Sherritt, a Canadian company operating legally in Cuba, to shutter its operations and leave the island so US administration cronies can position themselves to cash in if Cuba’s government fails or is overthrown. Canada’s Foreign Extraterritorial Measures Act was supposed to shield Canadian companies from such US overreach.

So far, Global Affairs Canada has said nothing.

Given Trump’s threats to turn Canada into the “51st state,” it is in our self-interest—not to mention our professed commitment to a “new order”—to speak out forcefully against what the US is doing to Cuba.

Stephen Kimber is an Inglis Professor in the School of Journalism, Writing & Publishing at the University of King’s College and the award-winning author of 14 books, including What Lies Across the Water: The Real Story of the Cuban Five.

John Kirk is Professor Emeritus of Latin American Studies at Dalhousie University and the author or co-editor of more than 20 books about Latin America.

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