Involvement of Canadian Banks in Economic Measures Against Cuba
In 2025, Cuba's annual report on the U.S.-led regime of illegal sanctions includes something that should be of concern to Canadians and Quebeckers. It states:
"The closure of banking operations between international and Cuban banks was confirmed, as in the case of the National Bank of Canada, which rejected the letter of credit for operations with Cuba's Chemical Industry Business Group."
The National Bank of Canada is based in Montreal and is the sixth largest commercial bank in Canada and the second largest in Quebec.
This is clearly the result of pressure exerted by the U.S. government through the extraterritorial tentacles of its illegal blockade which is a direct violation of Canada's own parliamentary resolution prohibiting compliance with such foreign pressure and interference. This comes at a time when the federal and provincial governments cannot stop talking about upholding Canada's sovereignty and the "national interest" in the face of a U.S. trade war and threats of annexation.
The decision of the National Bank of Canada to halt banking operations with Cuban banks is disgraceful especially given that Canada and Cuba have maintained uninterrupted diplomatic ties for more than 80 years, and the peoples of both countries have longstanding relations based on friendship and cooperation.
Canada has legislation on the books, specifically the Foreign Extraterritorial Measures Act (FEMA) in effect since 1985, which the government can use to protect Canadian interests against the extraterritorial application of foreign laws in Canada. In fact, with respect to the U.S. blockade on Cuba, there has been an order in place under FEMA since 1992, that is supposed to block the extraterritorial application in Canada of the U.S. embargo against Cuba. The 1992 order prohibits a Canadian corporation, including its directors, officers and employees, in respect of any trade between Canada and Cuba, from complying with an extraterritorial measure of the U.S. The same order also prohibits complying with any direction or communication relating to such a measure that the Canadian corporation has received from a person in a position to influence the policies of the Canadian corporation. This situation begs the question as to why this legislation and the 1992 order were not brought to bear in the case of the National Bank of Canada.
This article was published in
Volume 56 Number 4 - February 13, 2026
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/TML2026/Articles/T5600412.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca