Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand recently said, on the eve of International Justice Day, that Canada will continue to support the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Anand’s comments came in response to a Wall Street Journal op-ed written by United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio pledging to dismantle the ICC. In response, some analysts have argued doing so is not truly a current priority for the U.S. and won’t be a key issue during trade or other negotiations with Canada.

Nonetheless, Canada’s vocal support of the ICC is a positive development for the court; one of its key founding members is sticking with it. But could and should Canada do and say more to counter the many inaccurate claims made about the ICC? Here’s why Canada is in a tricky spot.

Marco Rubio’s threats

Rubio’s threat to dismantle the court “brick by brick if necessary” is yet another American attack against the ICC ostensibly aimed at protecting U.S. sovereignty.

Ironically, while Canada played a foundational, leading role in the creation of the ICC, the U.S. also supported its creation, albeit tepidly.

Nonetheless, many of the ICC’s key tenets are at odds with the allegations in Rubio’s op-ed.

Take the ICC’s principle of “complementarity” as........

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