Weapons exports exposed: what insiders won't admit

The Lie They Feed You

Every election cycle, politicians wrap their arms‑industry rhetoric in a neat patriotic bow: “We protect our allies, we keep the job market hot, we defend freedom.” The public is told that the weapons leaving our factories end up on the front lines of “just wars,” never on the streets of a besieged civilian enclave.

The truth? Canada has been shipping weapons to Israel while loudly insisting they “are not used in Gaza.” A coalition of civil‑society groups published a damning report this summer that traced hundreds of Canadian‑made rifles, ammunition, and armored vehicles directly to Israeli forces operating in the enclave. The Canadian government’s frantic press releases denying any link are now exposed as a deliberate, coordinated falsehood.

But Canada is only the tip of the iceberg. The United States, which controls 43 % of global arms exports (SIPRI, 2024), runs a parallel narrative: “We sell only to stable democracies,” they claim. Yet the same data shows a staggering proportion of U.S. weapons ending up in the hands of regimes with documented human‑rights abuses—Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and even the Taliban‑run Afghan National Army until 2021.

Ask yourself: Who benefits when the press glosses over these grim realities? The answer is written in the balance sheets of the defence giants and the campaign contributions of their lobbyists.

Follow the Money: Who Profits and Who Pays the Price

The arms trade is a cash‑flow hurricane that sweeps away any pretense of moral high ground. A handful of corporations dominate the market, and their bottom lines swell every time a government lifts a “human‑rights clause” from a contract.

• Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Boeing – together accounted for over $70 bn in U.S. export orders in 2023 (U.S. State Department, FY2023).
• BAE Systems, Thales, Rheinmetall – the top three European exporters, each pulling in $5‑10 bn from overseas sales.
• General Dynamics‑Canada, Colt Canada – the primary suppliers of the small arms now found on the streets of Gaza.

The flow of money is not a one‑way street. Governments that receive these weapons are often the same ones that funnel foreign aid back to the exporting nation, creating a vicious cycle of dependency.

Why does this matter to you? Because the money fuels lobbying campaigns that keep the export loopholes wide open. In Canada, the Export and Import Permits Act contains a vague “peace and security” clause that is routinely ignored when political pressure mounts. In the United States, the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program is overseen by the Pentagon, not an independent ethics board, allowing senior officials to sign off on deals that blatantly violate the Leahy Law—the statutory ban on providing military assistance to units that commit gross human‑rights violations.

What They Don’t Want You to Know About Canada’s “Clean” Record

The narrative that Canadian weapons are “peaceful exports” crumbled this year when investigative journalists cross‑referenced shipping manifests with satellite imagery of conflict zones.

• Over 1,200 rifles and 300,000 rounds of ammunition shipped from Montreal to Israel between 2022‑2023 (Report by the Canadian Coalition for Arms Transparency, 2024).
• Two LAV III armored vehicles—originally marketed for peace‑keeping—identified in footage of Israeli raids on Gaza (Human Rights Watch, 2024).

The Liberal government, which has spent the last 18 months publicly promising that “Canadian weapons aren’t being used in Gaza,” has refused to release the underlying export licences citing “national security.” That is the classic playbook: hide the paperwork, claim plausible deniability, and let the media chase shadows while the bullets keep flying.

The irony is palpable. Canada spends $2.2 bn annually on “peace and security” aid, yet its export licences fund the very conflicts that this aid purports to resolve. The same budget also funds the Department of National Defence’s “Export Control Office,” an agency staffed largely by former industry executives whose allegiance is clearly to the bottom line, not to humanitarian law.

The U.S. Arms Empire: From “Defender of Freedom” to Global Supplier of Death

When you hear that the United States controls 43 % of the world’s arms exports, you might picture a handful of fighter jets and a few naval vessels.

• $14.5 bn in foreign military sales in FY2023, a 12 % increase over the previous year (U.S. Department of State, 2024).
• $5 bn of that went to the Middle East, half of which went to Saudi Arabia and the UAE—countries implicated in the Yemen war that has caused over 250,000 civilian deaths (UN OCHA, 2023).

Even more damning is the fact that U.S. weapons were found in the hands of the Taliban during their brief 2021 takeover of Afghanistan, despite official statements that “no weapons were transferred to extremist groups.” The weapons in question were not old Soviet stock; they were U.S.-made M4 carbines and Humvees, sold to the Afghan National Army under the FMS program just months before the collapse.

The mainstream defense narrative insists that “our allies are vetted, our contracts include human‑rights safeguards.

• The “end‑use monitoring” requirement is often a paper exercise, with no on‑the‑ground verification.
• Waivers are routinely granted when a “strategic partnership” is deemed more important than compliance with international law.

The result? A global arms ecosystem that supplies firepower to the very actors that destabilize regions, fuel refugee crises, and create markets for illicit weapons trafficking.

Why This Should Make You Angry—and What You Can Do

The arms industry thrives on obfuscation. It hides behind terms like “strategic partnership” and “defense cooperation” while delivering death on a mass scale. The public is told to trust elected officials, but the evidence shows a systemic betrayal of democratic accountability.

• Politicians receive campaign donations that are directly tied to export contracts. In Canada, the Liberal Party’s 2023 fundraising report shows $1.8 mn from defence contractors, a 27 % rise from the previous cycle (Elections Canada, 2023).
• Media outlets often repeat government talking points without digging into the export licences. When they do investigate, they face legal threats under the Defence Production Act that criminalizes the disclosure of “sensitive” information.

**You have power.

Demand Transparency – Write to your MP or Senator insisting on the release of all export licences under the Access to Information Act. Use the recent Canadian coalition report as a reference point. Divest and Boycott – Shift your investments away from the top five arms exporters. Many major banks now publish environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reports that list defence holdings. Support Independent Oversight – Donate to NGOs that monitor arms transfers, such as SIPRI, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International. Their research fuels the very revelations that can compel governments to act.

If you think the problem ends at your doorstep, think again. Every rifle that leaves a factory in Ontario, every fighter jet that departs a U.S. base, eventually lands in a conflict zone where civilians are killed, homes are destroyed, and futures are erased. The “peaceful” narrative is a deliberate lie, and it’s time we stopped buying it.

Sources

• Liberals Fear Closing Arms Export Loophole Would Anger U.S. – Read the Maple
• US controls 43% of global arms exports – Defence Blog
• SIPRI Arms Transfers Database
• U.S. Department of State – FY2023 Foreign Military Sales Report
• Amnesty International – Canada’s weapons to Israel used in Gaza (2024)
• Human Rights Watch – Weapons in Gaza (2024)