by Adrian She
The world’s biggest war profiteers will descend on Ottawa’s EY Centre this May 28-29 for the annual CANSEC convention, the Canadian defence and security trade show hosted by the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI). The event features speeches from senior political figures and a networking opportunity for the most powerful and profitable players in the weapons industry. This year, CANSEC boasts of over 280 exhibitors, including Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, General Dynamics, and BAE Systems. These firms are deeply implicated in wars, occupations, and repression, from Palestine to the Philippines, as identified by the Canadian chapter of Peace Brigades International (PBI) – Canada.
Over 50 international government and military delegations are also expected to participate. According to CADSI, 81% of CANSEC attendees “have purchasing power” and over 78% of attendees are “top-level executives.” Peace advocates, including a coalition of groups forming Shut Down CANSEC, have raised serious concerns that the trade show is a ground zero for weapons companies to make direct connections with armed forces engaged in human rights violations globally.
CANSEC Supports the Genocide in Gaza
For years, CANSEC took place against the backdrop of an ongoing genocide in Palestine. As of May 2025, Israel’s assault on Gaza has continued for 20 consecutive months and over 55,000 Palestinians have been killed. Human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and the United Nations have reported Israel’s use of weapons as being consistent with genocide.
CANSEC isn’t just a trade show — it’s a symbol of the government’s refusal to act in the face of genocide
CANSEC features numerous companies who are not just complicit but profiting from Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
Chief among them is Elbit System, Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer. Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) compiled Elbit’s contracts, which included supplying approximately 85% of Israel’s land-based military equipment, including drones, tanks and targeting systems. It proudly touts its products are being battle-tested on Palestinians.
American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) also documented major CANSEC exhibitors’ weapons used by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). Boeing supplied the IDF with F-15 and F-16 fighter jets used to bomb Gaza. Lockheed Martin is also a supplier of these jets and the F-35 model used for Israeli airstrikes.
Beyond the weapon hardware displays at CANSEC, software giants Google and Microsoft provide technological support through consultation and cloud services for the IDF. +972 Magazine investigations have found Microsoft’s cloud computing platform Azure is listed in contracts with the IDF, specifically for language-learning models that would read documents and provide translations. Google’s cloud services were also reported by AFSC as used for facial recognition and data storage for mass surveilling Palestinians.
Canada’s Role in the Global Arms Industry
According to Global Affairs Canada’s 2023 export report, Canada sent over $2.1 billion in military goods abroad (excluding the US), of which $30 million were exported to the State of Israel. Canada has become the second-largest arms exporter to the Middle East, after the United States, largely due to its arms exports to Saudi Arabia, amounting to over $904 million – 42% of the total by value.
Canada plays a role in the oppression and killing of ordinary people worldwide
Project Ploughshares, a peace advocacy and research institute, pointed out that Canada’s arms exports routinely violate its obligations under the Arms Trade Treaty, which prohibits arms transfers when there is a substantial risk they could be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian or human rights law. Furthermore, the organization analyzed Canadian and United States trade laws to identify loopholes in which companies or governments are not required to publicly disclose arms transfers.
Despite a non-binding motion passed by Parliament in March 2024, which called for an end to arms exports to Israel, Global Affairs Canada continued to approve licenses under existing contracts, as reported by CJPME. In practice, the flow of Canadian military components to arm the genocide has remained uninterrupted. While data on trade to other countries is more readily available, Canada’s arms control regime leaves the flow of weapons to the United States unregulated, unreported, and without human rights evaluations.
Resistance is Growing
On May 1st, protesters took to the streets of Ottawa as part of International Workers’ Day and the locally organized Month of May Days. PBI-Canada reported from the march that alongside Indigenous land defenders, tenant unions, and public sector workers, peace activists advocated for a clear and urgent demand to shut down CANSEC.
The Shut Down CANSEC Coalition has been calling attention to the arms convention’s attendees due to their complicity in state violence against civilians globally. For the Canadian weapons companies and complicit politicians, it is clear that mass murder and genocide continues to be a lucrative business, despite protests condemning the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the Canadian government’s complicity of these human rights violations.
A member of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) in Canada, asking to be referred to as Ahana, spoke to The Leveller about the reason she has been protesting CANSEC since 2022. “As an immigrant and an organizer in my community, I think we all have a role to play in supporting working class movements that build our own power.” She explained that “the economic exploitation of migrant workers is directly tied to the interest of these big corporations globally.”
“We are all witnessing Canada’s complicity in extreme violence around the world. From its support for the genocide in Palestine, to Canadian mining companies that rely on armed forces to suppress local resistance in Latin America, to the Indo-Pacific strategy that militarizes Southeast Asia — Canada plays a role in the oppression and killing of ordinary people worldwide. Here in Canada, we are experiencing a housing and a cost of living crisis, and yet the government is prioritizing the profit of corporations and the wealth in the hands of a few people.”
Last year, The Fulcrum reported how CANSEC protests blocked the EY centre in the morning and an afternoon occupation of Parliament Hill while the house was in session. Several peace activists were arrested for their actions. The protests saw a coalition of grassroots and anti-war community groups come together in the Shut Down CANSEC Coalition, including ILPS, the Palestinian Youth Movement, BAYAN Canada, Labour 4 Palestine, and the International Migrants Alliance – Canada. This year, the protests against CANSEC continue with a rally being planned for the morning of May 28 at the EY Centre near the Ottawa Airport.
“CANSEC isn’t just a trade show — it’s a symbol of the government’s refusal to act in the face of genocide and the live-streamed slaughter of thousands of children and families.” Ahana stateded. “Every year, people protest CANSEC to reject the normalization of war.”
Protesters are demanding the immediate cancellation of CANSEC as well as an end to all arms exports to Israel and other countries listed by PBI-Canada as violating international humanitarian law. The Coalition offers an alternative: redirection of public funds toward healthcare, housing, education, and climate justice — not war.
Editor’s Note: Adrian She is a member of the Shut Down CANSEC Coalition, the group organizing protests against CANSEC this year and in previous years.
