The Federal Court has dismissed a legal challenge to block the sale of armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia.
Law professor and noted separatist Daniel Turp launched the challenge in an attempt to condemn the $15 billion sale of Light Armoured Vehicles.
Turp argued that Saudi Arabia's human rights record was so poor that the court should have the power to review the deal before it went through.
In her decision, Justice Daniele Tremblay-Lamer said the court's sole task was to determine if the sale was legal, and not to "pass moral judgment."
The 15-year deal was negotiated in 2014 by the Harper government. It gives General Dynamics Land Systems Canada a contract to make vehicles that will be equipped with machine guns, 105mm shells, or anti-tank missiles for the Saudi Arabian National Guard.
The National Guard is a military force that protects Saudi Arabia against internal threats.
Saudi authorities have used LAVs against dissidents, but the Trudeau government said it had no proof that LAVs were used against Saudi citizens, nor that it had been used in neighbouring Yemen, where Saudi Arabia is conducting airstrikes.
Former Foreign Affairs Minister Stephanie Dion issued export permits in April 2016, even though Canadian weapons export rules forbid shipments "unless it can be demonstrated there is no reasonable risk that the goods might be used against the civilian population."
Turp filed his lawsuit in March 2016, and argued that approval was flawed because it was not guided by respect for human rights and humanitarian law.
The federal government disagreed, saying it had taken human rights into account.
Turp is a former Bloc Quebecois MP, a law professor at Université de Montreal, and the chair of the Research Institute On Self-Determination (IRAI) funded by former PQ leader Pierre Karl Peladeau.
