A security zone is enforced near the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas on Jan. 3, after U.S. forces captured Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro.FEDERICO PARRA/AFP/Getty Images
Prime Minister Mark Carney is hailing the ouster of Nicolas Maduro as president of Venezuela, but says international law and the democratic will of the Venezuelan people must be respected in next steps for the embattled South American nation.
Mr. Carney issued a statement on social media Saturday night, hours after U.S. President Donald Trump detailed a military operation that saw American forces capture Mr. Maduro and his wife to face drug trafficking charges in New York.
The Prime Minister’s statement did not directly comment on Mr. Trump’s assertion that the U.S. government will run Venezuela and that American companies will take over its oil infrastructure.
“In keeping with our long-standing commitment to upholding the rule of law, sovereignty and human rights, Canada calls on all parties to respect international law,” Mr. Carney said in a posting on X that marked his first comments on the situation.
“We stand by the Venezuelan people’s sovereign right to decide and build their own future in a peaceful and democratic society,”
Mr. Carney said Canada has not respected the “illegitimate regime” of Mr. Maduro since it “stole” the 2018 election in that country.
“The Canadian government therefore welcomes the opportunity for freedom, democracy, peace and prosperity for the Venezuelan people.”
The Prime Minister said Canada is in close contact with international partners about ongoing developments.
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand had responded to the American action earlier in the day, but her comments were posted on social media ahead of Mr. Trump’s remarks at a news conference in Florida.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Canada’s defence minister said this country had no role in the U.S. action against Venezuela.
No personnel or assets from the Department of National Defence or the Canadian Armed Forces were involved, Alice Hansen, the communications director for Defence Minister David McGuinty, said in a statement.
In a statement on Saturday, Global Affairs Canada said it was not aware of any Canadians injured or killed in Venezuela due to recent events.
The statement issued by department spokesperson Clemence Grevey said 775 Canadians in Venezuela were registered with Global Affairs, though the number in the country could be larger because volunteering is not mandatory.
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A Global Affairs fact sheet described Venezuela as one of the “primary sources” of geopolitical tension and instability in the Western Hemisphere, accusing the regime of developing illicit revenue sources with violent non-state actors, including transnational criminal gangs and foreign armed groups.
It said Canada wants to promote a peaceful return to democracy in the country after Mr. Maduro claimed victory in the July 24, 2024 election despite credible evidence that opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrita won by over 67 per cent.
Mr. Maduro, who has been President of Venezuela since 2013, was inaugurated for another term as president in January, 2025, and extended his mandate for six years until 2031.
As part of its response to Venezuela, Canada has imposed sanctions on individuals involved in attacks on democratic institutions, gross violations of human rights and actors of significant corruption.
Since 2015, about eight million Venezuelans have fled or left the country with 85 per cent of those people settling in countries in the region such as Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Chile and Ecuador, said the fact sheet.
Statistics Canada recorded 28,000 people of Venezuelan origin in its 2021 census, and statistics with the Immigration and Refugee Board show that more than 10,000 people from the country have claimed refugee status in the past decade.
Ahead of Mr. Carney’s statement, Canada’s former ambassador to Venezuela called on the Prime Minister to focus on Venezuela’s sovereignty and not subordinate that view to the ongoing trade talks with the United States.
“That trade negotiation also involves issues of sovereignty,” Ben Rowswell, the Venezuela ambassador between 2014 and 2017, said in an interview on Saturday.
He said Canada is in a challenging position because it is part of the neighbourhood of countries around Venezuela and that reality should inform our position.
“In this neighbourhood, sovereignty is sacrosanct and so we should commit ourselves to re-establishing the sovereignty of Venezuela at the first available opportunity based on the will of the people of Venezuela,” he said.
He said it might be helpful to reconvene the Lima Group of 12 countries, including Canada, created in 2017 to co-ordinate regional responses to the struggle for democracy in Venezuela. It ran its course after the 2019 attempt to install an interim president in Venezuela.
Mr. Rowswell, who was also an acting head of mission in Afghanistan and Iraq, said he was surprised that U.S. President Donald Trump was so open about confirming that access to Venezuelan oil helped drive U.S. policy.
“Trump has a habit of confirming our worst fears about his motives and the motives of the United States under his leadership,” said Mr. Rowswell.
Meanwhile, former foreign affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy said a concessionary Canadian position now would weaken Canada.
“If we simply allow Trump and his crowd to think that they can get away to do whatever they want, to whichever country they want, for whatever reason they want, then we are vulnerable,” said Mr. Axworthy, the foreign affairs minister from 1996 to 2000 under prime minister Jean Chretien.
Mr. Axworthy said he did not want to underestimate the challenges the Canadian government will face in navigating the Venezuela issue.
But he said Canada has a responsibility to be firmer to protect certain basic international agreements and standards. “Lots of history shows that as soon as you start staying silent, you become complicit,” he said.
Earlier Saturday, federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre praised Mr. Trump for his actions and said Mr. Maduro should face a long jail sentence.
“Congratulations to President Trump for the arrest of the narco-terrorist and socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro, who should spend the rest of his days in prison,” Mr. Poilievre, the official Opposition Leader, said in a statement posted on X.
Mr. Poilievre said Mr González should take office alongside María Corina Machado, another opposition politician who won the Nobel Peace Prize last year, for her work promoting democracy in Venezuela.