OTTAWA—Canada and has created a coalition with 57 other countries to support a new international declaration denouncing state-sponsored arbitrary detention of foreign nationals for political purposes. The new declaration was born out of a year of behind-the-scenes international diplomacy, spearheaded by former foreign affairs minister Francois-Philippe Champagne. Canada has sought global support to free Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, who are spending their 798th day in Chinese prisons today. “I was inspired by what I was seeing as the plight of all those which have been arbitrarily detained in the world and a desire to do something tangible,” Champagne said in an interview. “It reminded me of a quote from Mandela: it always seems impossible until it’s done.” While ending Kovrig’s and Spavor’s Chinese imprisonment remains Canada’s top priority, the new declaration is meant to be a broad denunciation to end the coercive practice in other numerous countries, such as …