This is shameful, especially after Trudeau said Canada would renew it peacekeeping commitment. Just one Liberal fail after another.
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Number of Canadian soldiers on UN peacekeeping missions hits new low
Foreign policy expert says UN has 'given up' on waiting for larger deployments
- Murray Brewster · CBC News
Just over four months after the Liberal government renewed its commitment to United Nations peacekeeping, the number of Canadian troops deployed on such missions has hit an all-time low.
New figures released by National Defence show that there were 22 Canadian soldiers taking part in four missions authorized by the UN Security Council at the end of February.
The UN has a slightly higher count — 41 — because it includes other staff assignments.
Regardless of which set of figures you adopt, the numbers are the lowest since Canada first became involved in peacekeeping in 1956, according to defence experts.
Separately, Canada has 70 peacekeepers involved in a non-UN mission in the Sinai Peninsula as part the Multinational Observer Force, which was set up in 1979 to enforce the Camp David accords between Israel and Egypt.
The new numbers landed in the same week Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland was meeting with UN officials in New York, talking up Canada's commitment to increasing the participation of women in peacekeeping through the Trudeau government's 'Elsie Initiative'.
Announced at the same Vancouver ministerial conference where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised the UN troops, trainers, helicopters and transport aircraft, the initiative is a response to the world body's repeated calls for the full participation of women in maintaining and promoting peace.
A Security Council resolution passed in 2015 called for a doubling of the number of women involved in military and police peacekeeping operations within five years.
"While nobody expected that to happen overnight, progress has not come nearly fast enough," Freeland said in a speech delivered Tuesday.
Number of Canadian soldiers on UN peacekeeping missions hits new low - Politics - CBC News
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Number of Canadian soldiers on UN peacekeeping missions hits new low
Foreign policy expert says UN has 'given up' on waiting for larger deployments
- Murray Brewster · CBC News
Just over four months after the Liberal government renewed its commitment to United Nations peacekeeping, the number of Canadian troops deployed on such missions has hit an all-time low.
New figures released by National Defence show that there were 22 Canadian soldiers taking part in four missions authorized by the UN Security Council at the end of February.
The UN has a slightly higher count — 41 — because it includes other staff assignments.
Regardless of which set of figures you adopt, the numbers are the lowest since Canada first became involved in peacekeeping in 1956, according to defence experts.
Separately, Canada has 70 peacekeepers involved in a non-UN mission in the Sinai Peninsula as part the Multinational Observer Force, which was set up in 1979 to enforce the Camp David accords between Israel and Egypt.
The new numbers landed in the same week Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland was meeting with UN officials in New York, talking up Canada's commitment to increasing the participation of women in peacekeeping through the Trudeau government's 'Elsie Initiative'.
Announced at the same Vancouver ministerial conference where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised the UN troops, trainers, helicopters and transport aircraft, the initiative is a response to the world body's repeated calls for the full participation of women in maintaining and promoting peace.
A Security Council resolution passed in 2015 called for a doubling of the number of women involved in military and police peacekeeping operations within five years.
"While nobody expected that to happen overnight, progress has not come nearly fast enough," Freeland said in a speech delivered Tuesday.
Number of Canadian soldiers on UN peacekeeping missions hits new low - Politics - CBC News
