Carney’s trip to Armenia comes as Ottawa foreign policy seeks to change, expert says – National
Prime Minister Mark Carney is headed to Armenia on Saturday to visit his office, which he says is looking to protect Ukraine and promote more trade and investment in Europe.
Jean-François Ratelle, a professor of international studies at the University of Ottawa who specializes in the Caucasus region, said it is disappointing that the visit does not appear to be aimed at continuing Canada’s years of advocacy for democracy and peace in Armenia.
“We’re seeing a complete change in our foreign policy and what our common interests are,” Ratelle told The Canadian Press.
“It’s looking out for our interests and our opportunities, and it’s not playing that leading role in the rules, and that’s what defined Canada.”
The prime minister will be in the Armenian capital of Yerevan from Saturday to Monday at the European Political Community conference on strategic cooperation in politics, security and infrastructure.
Canada is the first non-European country to attend the meetings, which have taken place twice a year since they began after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. These meetings include EU countries and others such as Iceland, Turkey and Ukraine itself.
“It’s really an attempt to create a platform for dialogue,” said Achim Hurrelmann, co-director of the Center for European Studies at Carleton University. He said Carney appears to be in favor of advancing defense procurement agreements with Europe.
“What I think is that he is very interested in the opportunity to meet with the leaders of the EU, and leaders from especially Ukraine and the UK all at the same time, to try to move forward in implementing some of the same initiatives that have been introduced with the European Union.”
Hurrelmann said the trip may help Carney identify projects his government can pursue after repeating senior statements about defense cooperation.
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“What has proven to be very difficult is to create joint projects (and) get the private investment needed for that,” he said.
The prime minister’s report announcing the trip did not touch on the recent history of the Caucasus region. The previous Trudeau government weighed in several times on ethnic conflicts in the region and often expressed support for the Armenian diaspora in Canada.
Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Armenia and Azerbaijan have been fighting for control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Canada and other countries recognize the region as part of Azerbaijan, despite the majority of its population being Armenian.
Conflicts have erupted in various areas, especially when Russian peacekeepers are being reduced after Moscow launches its all-out invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Azerbaijan blocked access to the region and eventually launched a military campaign against separatist groups that forced more than 100,000 people to leave by 2023, just as Canada opened an embassy in Yerevan.
Canada has spoken out against Azerbaijan’s actions, joined an EU security campaign and at one point suspended military shipments to Turkey over concerns that the country was sending Canadian units to its ally Azerbaijan for use in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Ottawa also sought to support what it called “fragile” democracies in former Soviet countries such as Armenia through, among other things, efforts to combat disinformation.
Ratelle said that work has stagnated since Carney took office and there hasn’t been much visible diplomatic work in Yerevan to promote democracy.
“We had good signs about ethnic cleansing, about the importance of democracy, but we didn’t go after that,” he said.
“In a sea of dictatorships and rebellious countries, Armenia is actually the one with the most hope to develop a better system of democracy and human rights.” At the same time, Canada has not really been very involved in trade or economic relations with Armenia.”
That shift away from authoritarianism is far from over. Freedom House noted in its 2025 report that in Armenia, “courts are subject to political influence, and judicial institutions are undermined by corruption.”
Ratelle said the region is taking on increasing political importance, with Armenia and Azerbaijan both sharing borders with Iran. Both welcome American investors as part of the US plan to bring peace between the two countries through joint economic and infrastructure links that will strengthen trade between Asia and Europe.
Those efforts could yield “huge opportunities,” Ratelle said, but only if the country’s climate remains stable for 10 to 15 years. Armenia and Azerbaijan are still at loggerheads over borders, prisoners of war and Azerbaijan’s recent destruction of Armenian cultural heritage sites.
Ratelle added that Armenia feels that it lacks international support for the ongoing “smooth peace process” with Azerbaijan, a country that Turkey strongly supports.
Disappointment was heightened last June, Ratelle said, when Carney hosted the G7 summit and did not list Caucasus issues among Canada’s priorities for discussion with U.S. President Donald Trump and other leaders.
“It speaks, I think, to a lot of the current administration that the priority is about economic exchange … rather than upholding international law,” he said.
He said that Armenia might invite Canada in an effort to build strong relations with the central powers.
Carney said Wednesday that he had never been to Armenia before. The last prime minister to visit was Justin Trudeau at the Francophonie conference in 2018.
The weekend trip comes as Canada works to build trade relations with countries such as Turkey, where Carney is expected to attend a NATO summit in July.
Prior to that trip, Foreign Minister Anita Anand and others participated in the Armenian Genocide, a term the Turkish government rejects.
© 2026 The Canadian Press
