Visit of the Honourable Raymonde Gagné, C.M., O.M., Speaker of the Senate, and a Parliamentary Delegation, Kingdom of Netherlands

 

From May 18 to 20, 2026, the Honourable Raymonde Gagné, C.M., O.M., Speaker of the Senate of Canada, led a parliamentary delegation to the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The delegation included the Honourable Marty Klyne, the Honourable Flordeliz (Gigi) Osler and the Honourable Suze Youance. Accompanying the delegation were Sarah Boukhouali, International Affairs and Policy Advisor, Office of the Speaker of the Senate, and Karine Déquier, Parliamentary Exchanges Officer.

In The Hague, Netherlands, the delegation met with:

• The Honourable Mei Li Vos, Speaker of the Senate of the Netherlands;
• The Honourable Thom van Campen, Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands;
• The Honourable Tom Berendsen, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands;
• Marcin Czepelak, Secretary General, of the Permanent Court of Arbitration;
• Martin Doe, Deputy Secretary General of the Permanent Court of Arbitration;
• Christophe Bernasconi, Secretary General of the Hague Conference on Private International Law;
• Markiyan Kliuchkovskyi, Executive Director of the Register of Damage Caused by the Aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine; and
• Kimberly Prost, International Criminal Court Judge.

In addition to these official meetings, the delegation participated in a discussion with permanent representatives to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, toured the Binnenhof construction site, and visited the Canadian War Cemetery in Bergen-op-Zoom, where they laid flowers in honour of the Canadian soldiers who participated in the liberation of the Netherlands. The delegation also visited Wageningen University & Research to learn about sustainable greenhouse research and toured the Canadian pavilion at the World Hydrogen Summit.

The visit provided an opportunity to strengthen bilateral and parliamentary relations between Canada and the Netherlands, while deepening the delegation’s understanding of the international organizations headquartered in The Hague and Canada’s role within them. Discussions also focused on opportunities for collaboration in the areas of sustainable agriculture and clean energy.

The report will be available once it has been tabled in the Senate.