Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addresses delegates during the 2017 United Nations Peacekeeping Defence Ministerial conference in Vancouver, B.C., on Wednesday November 15, 2017.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addresses delegates during the 2017 United Nations Peacekeeping Defence Ministerial conference in Vancouver, B.C., on Wednesday November 15, 2017.
Photo Credit: PC / DARRYL DYCK

Canada pledges 200 elite troops and aircaft for future UN peacekeeping operations

Two years after announcing Canada’s re-engagement with the United Nations, the Liberal government finally unveiled Wednesday its formal commitments to UN peacekeeping operations, pledging to contribute helicopters, transport aircraft and a 200-strong rapid-response team of elite soldiers.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveiled the planned contributions at a high-level summit Wednesday in Vancouver, including millions of dollars to increase the role of women in peacekeeping.

However, the announcement fell well short of Trudeau’s August 2016 promise to deploy 600 troops and 150 police officers on UN peacekeeping missions.

It was also not clear when and where some of the Canadian assets will be deployed.

“We are making these pledges today because we believe in the United Nations and we believe in peacekeeping,” Trudeau said.

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Canada is making contributions it is “uniquely able to provide,” he said.

“We know how to work with other countries and other partners to make peace happen,” Trudeau said.

“We have innovative ideas to share, and more importantly, we’re willing to put those new ideas into practice. We’re also home to the kinds of concrete capabilities that UN peace operations need. We can make a difference by matching what we do best with what UN peace operations need most.”

Two CF-188 Hornet aircraft from 433 Tactical Fighter Squadron approach a CC-130 Hercules to conduct an air to air refueling during Exercise TIPIC SAUVAGE in Homestead, Florida on February 7, 2017.
Two CF-188 Hornet aircraft from 433 Tactical Fighter Squadron approach a CC-130 Hercules to conduct an air to air refueling during Exercise TIPIC SAUVAGE in Homestead, Florida on February 7, 2017. © Cpl. Jean-Roch Chabot

The largest component of Canada’s proposed military commitment will be a company-size quick reaction force of highly trained soldiers who would be deployed on a UN mission to provide security and respond to emergencies and attacks on civilians or aid workers.

The Royal Canadian Air Force will also be tasked to deploy CH-147 Chinook helicopters and CH-146 Griffon helicopters, which can be configured with machine guns to provide additional fire power if needed.

A Hercules C-130 transport plane and support staff would be stationed in the Ugandan town of Entebbe to assist in deploying UN resources.

In line with its feminist foreign and development policy, Canada is also offering a total of $21 million to help increase the number of women in peacekeeping operations, including $6 million to help with reforms at the UN and $15 million for a new trust fund.

The fund is intended to help partner together countries with good female representation in the ranks with those that want to have more women in uniform, but are facing challenges.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, centre, responds to questions as Minister of International Development Marie-Claude Bibeau, from left to right, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland and General Jonathan H. Vance, Chief of the Defence Staff, listen during a news conference at the 2017 United Nations Peacekeeping Defence Ministerial conference in Vancouver, B.C., on Wednesday November 15, 2017.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, centre, responds to questions as Minister of International Development Marie-Claude Bibeau, from left to right, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland and General Jonathan H. Vance, Chief of the Defence Staff, listen during a news conference at the 2017 United Nations Peacekeeping Defence Ministerial conference in Vancouver, B.C., on Wednesday November 15, 2017. © PC/DARRYL DYCK

Canada will also make dozens of trainers available to the UN and other countries to help professionalize militaries from developing countries that are often involved in peacekeeping.

For most Canadians peacekeeping has become rooted in a kind of nostalgia, Trudeau said.

However, the government cannot dwell on the past glories of its peacekeeping achievements but needs to take into account the rapidly changing nature of modern peace support operations, Trudeau said.

“Times have changed, now all too often there is no peace to keep,” Trudeau said. “The conflicts we face today are intractable, more dangerous and more complex.”

Modern peace operations take place in a context that transcends borders and includes a challenging range of actors – from fragile and failing states, militia groups, non-state actors, organized criminals and terrorists, Trudeau said.

The UN peace operations are often targets themselves, he added.

With files from Murray Brewster of CBC News and Lee Berthiaume, The Canadian Press

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