What's in a name? Where laws are concerned , quite a lot, it seems

Some of Vladimir Putin's most outspoken opponents are engaging in a full court press in Canada. And what they are campaigning for might surprise you.

The two activists are: Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian activist who has survived two poisoning attempts and a stint in a Russian jail; and Bill Browder, an American financier, who has led a high-profile (and dangerous) global campaign for targeted human rights sanctions, ever since his Russian tax advisor Sergei Magnitsky was beaten and killed in captivity for uncovering a massive fraud scheme administered by Putin officials.

The two men are currently campaigning in Canada, and their main demand is merely to rename one of Canada's laws. The Special Economic Measures Act (SEMA) has been Canada's main economic sanctions tool since it was first brought in back in 1992. Kara-Murza and Browder are arguing that the law should be renamed to include the name Magnitsky. They argue that the name is now globally synonymous with holding governments to account for human rights abuses, and that including the Magnitsky name would add "clarity" and give the law "a statement of moral purpose". 

There is currently a private member's bill, C-219, going through Parliament to exactly that effect, as well as to expand the current law to include transnational repression (where foreign states harass or harm vocal critics in order to silence or stifle their activism).

Now, I don't have a major problem with the proposed legislation, except that we already have a Sergei Magnitsky Law on the statutes, also known as the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act, and things could get confusing.

But mainly, I was surprised at just how important these two world-renowned activists consider the name of the law to be, that they would contemplate travelling here to specifically campaign for it.