Prime Minister Mark Carney’s frank assessment at Davos of the U.S. rupture of the rules-based global order signals a shift in Canada’s foreign policy.

Carney criticized the American attacks on international organizations and laws, and called for middle powers such as Canada to fight economic intimidation from both rivals and allies — a reference to U.S. President Donald Trump’s coercion through tariffs. He urged countries to build the institutions and agreements that “we claim to believe in, rather than waiting for the old order to be restored.”

However, if Carney is serious about his plan for Canada to be “principled in our commitment to fundamental values [and] sovereignty,” immediate action is needed on several fronts.

One could be Canada’s unequivocal public support for Kimberly Prost, a Canadian judge at the International Criminal Court, and a clear condemnation of the U.S. sanctions imposed on her because in 2020 she and other judges authorized an investigation into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan, including by the U.S. military.

Those sanctions mean Prost cannot travel to the United States and is shut out of most of the international banking system. All her credit cards were cancelled and she lost access to her Apple, Google and Amazon accounts, which underscores the global reach of U.S. power. Prost describes the U.S. sanctions as “an attack on the independence of the judiciary and the International Criminal Court’s........

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