Canada exported military goods and technology valued at $14,671,705 to Israel during the 2025 calendar year, according to figures published in Global Affairs Canada's annual report on strategic goods and technologies, a disclosure that has reopened a politically charged debate over how tightly Ottawa actually controls the trade. The total was drawn down against 50 export permits that were already in force, despite a stated government policy of not approving new permits for items that could be used in the Gaza Strip.
The report breaks the shipments into categories that sharpened the controversy. About $7.2m of the goods fell under "electronic equipment, spacecraft and components," while roughly $4.3m was classified as "bombs, torpedoes, rockets, missiles and other explosive devices" — the kind of hardware critics say should not be moving at all while the government insists it has frozen new approvals.
The 2025 figure represents a decline from the previous year, when Canada exported about $18.9m in military goods to Israel, but campaigners argue the year-on-year drop misses the point. Their objection is to the gap between the government's public message — that it had paused arms transfers over concerns about the conduct of the war in Gaza — and the reality that pre-existing permits continued to authorise deliveries throughout the year.
Successive Canadian governments have framed the permit pause as a meaningful restriction, distinguishing between halting fresh approvals and revoking licences already granted. Human-rights groups and several members of Parliament have countered that the distinction allows the trade to continue under cover of a policy that sounds more restrictive than it is, and have pressed for the existing permits to be suspended outright.
The disclosure arrives at a moment of heightened scrutiny of Western military support for Israel, with parallel debates playing out in European capitals over licensing and end-use guarantees. For Ottawa, the annual report turns an abstract policy argument into a concrete number, handing critics a figure they can point to and forcing the government to defend the mechanics of a freeze that, on paper, was supposed to have slowed the flow.
Officials have previously said that each permit is assessed against Canada's obligations under the Arms Trade Treaty and that exports are halted where there is a substantial risk they could be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international law. Whether the 2025 totals prompt a tightening of that case-by-case review, or a move against the remaining live permits, is likely to be the next pressure point in a dispute that has dogged the government since the war began.