OTTAWA—Canada will tighten existing sanctions against Burma after the military junta's recent clampdown on demonstrators, Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier said Wednesday.
In September, the junta crushed the biggest pro-democracy protests in nearly 20 years, killing at least 10 people.
Burma was renamed Myanmar by the military dictatorship which deposed the elected government.
"Canada has long had measures against Burma. Now, we are going to impose the toughest sanctions in the world ... they are right on moral grounds. The regime in Burma is abhorrent to Canadian values," Bernier said in a speech in Toronto.
The measures are likely to be mainly symbolic since total trade flows between Canada and Burma sank to C$8.6 million ($9 million) in 2006 from C$46.8 million in 2002.
Bernier said Canada would:
* ban all exports to Burma, except for humanitarian goods, and bar all imports
* freeze Canadian assets of Burmese citizens connected with the junta
* prohibit the provision of Canadian financial services and the export of technical data to Burma
* ban new investment by Canadian individuals and firms
* ban ships and aircraft registered in either country from visiting the other
"There is no more room for compromise with this odious regime," Bernier said.
Last month Canada's House of Commons granted honorary citizenship to Burma opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent nearly 12 of the last 18 years in prison or under house arrest.
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