Mastercard

LEAVE HOME WITHOUT IT!
Why your MasterCard may be useless on your next Cuban vacation.... and how that directly affects Canada’s economic sovereignty.

One-third of the population of Canada belongs to Credit Unions - and a significant number of those members has a Credit Union-issued MasterCard. With the opening of Canada’s financial sector to foreign buyouts, those members are now cardholders of a pretty useless piece of plastic when they travel to Cuba.

In May, 2007, MBNA Canada (a subsidiary of the Bank of America) purchased CUETS, a Credit Union-owned, Regina-based issuer of MasterCards for Canada’s Credit Unions. (press release)

The repercussions were immediate: No CUETS-issued MasterCard can be used in Cuba, because CUETS has chosen to abide by U.S. law (and economic sanctions against Cuba), in violation of Canadian law.

Under the U.S. Helms-Burton Act, passed in 1996, subsidiaries of U.S. corporations worldwide are required to abide by the U.S. economic embargo of Cuba. Canada, along with many other nations, reacted with blocking legislation to counter this extra-territorial application of U.S. law. To protect its sovereignty, the Canadian government amended the Foreign Extraterritorial Measures Act (FEMA) in 1996 - requiring subsidiaries of U.S. companies that operating in Canada to abide by Canadian law and not discriminate against Cuba in economic activities.

On June 17, 1996, then-Minister for International Trade, Art Eggleton, stated:

The Helms-Burton law flies in the face of international legal principles," said Mr. Eggleton. "The FEMA changes will give Canadian companies more legal tools to protect themselves against U.S. court claims under Helms-Burton.

The history of FEMA and Helms-Burton is an interesting one, and worth further investigation. To our knowledge, there have been NO prosecutions of Canadian subsidiaries of U.S. corporations in the 12 years since FEMA's amendment, despite a number of prominent apparent violations.

Naturally, Canada-Cuba friendship groups are very concerned about this matter, but it extends beyond Cuba to the broader issue of Canadian economic sovereignty. Are we as Canadian citizens simply going to accept that U.S. economic policy applies to our lives? There has been no response from the federal government of Stephen Harper’s Conservatives to many inquiries sent over the past several months.

What is Canada’s position on the matter?

Send us your comments: info@nscuba.org

Related documents and links:

CUETS purchased by MBNA Canada
Credit Union MasterCards “no good” in Cuba
Amendment to the Foreign Extraterritorial Measures Act (press release)
Foreign Extraterritorial Measures Act (text of 1996 Amendment)
Foreign Extraterritorial Measures Act (1985 Act - valid through March 2008)
Canadian government Trade Commissioner Service (to file complaints)
Hon. Robert Nicholson - Minister of Justice / Attorney General
Hon. Jim Flaherty - Minister of Finance
Hon. Maxime Bernier - Minister of Foreign Affairs
Hon. Jim Prentice - Minister of Industry
Statement from the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE)
Credit Union Atlantic statement on CUETS impact
Previous FEMA violation: The Cuban Pyjama Crisis