Article content

OTTAWA — The public safety minister says in no uncertain terms Canada will ignore Russia’s global arrest warrant if the advocate behind recent Magnitsky legislation shows up at the border.

“Canada will decide admissibility to Canada, not the Kremlin,” Goodale said Tuesday.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Canada decides who crosses our border, ‘not the Kremlin,’ says Goodale, amid Magnitsky spat Back to video

Bill Browder’s status is unchanged and Goodale can see “no reason” why he shouldn’t be able to enter Canada, he said before question period.

Browder told the Post Tuesday he is “not particularly worried” about a trip to Canada next week to attend an event on Parliament Hill celebrating the passage of anti-corruption legislation.

Canada’s Magnitsky Act, adopted last week, allows Canada to issue economic sanctions and travel bans against foreign human rights abusers, including foreign government officials.

Although the bill is not only focused on Russia, it is named after a Moscow lawyer who, while working for Browder, blew the whistle on tax fraud by Russian government officials. He was tortured and killed in prison in 2009.