OTTAWA — Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said the government has agreed to create a so-called Magnitsky Act that would expand Canada's international sanctions law to target gross human rights violators. OTTAWA — Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said the government has agreed to create a so-called Magnitsky Act that would expand Canada's international sanctions law to target gross human rights violators. Freeland announced the decision Wednesday night in the House of Commons. “Human rights are a non-partisan issue, and I look forward to working with the opposition on this initiative," Freeland said in a statement. “We will work closely with sponsors and all committee members to bring forward some technical amendments to strengthen the bill and ensure it can have maximum effectiveness."

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland speaks in the House of Commons on March 6, 2017. (Photo: Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press) The move comes after the Commons foreign affairs committee agreed last month to support amending Canada's sanctions regime to include the rights violators "in honour" of the Russian whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky. Magnitsky died in a Moscow prison in 2009 after accusing officials of a $230-million tax fraud. NDP foreign affairs critic Helene Laverdiere applauded the bill, saying that Canada must be a leader in human rights. "Several countries have adopted similar legislation and we are encouraged that the Liberals are finally taking this important step to support the Global Magnitsky movement," Laverdiere said in an email. Putin lashed back at U.S. in 2012 The decision is bound to further strain relations with Russia, which has reacted strongly to the imposition of Magnitsky-style legislation elsewhere. After the Obama administration enacted its Magnitsky Act in 2012, Russian President Vladimir Putin responded with a law that banned American citizens from adopting Russian children. Ottawa and the Kremlin have their own differences, which includes a Russian travel ban on Freeland. Freeland was one of several Canadians placed on a Russian sanctions list in 2014 in retaliation for Western sanctions imposed on Russia following its annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region. In her previous career as a journalist, Freeland called Putin an authoritarian who was "really dangerous."