Foreign Affairs Committee on Nov. 21st, 2024

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks to the witnesses for being with us today.

This is a really important update on Haiti.

We talked earlier about the UN and the attempts to have a UN peacekeeping mission. I understand that a poll in October 2023 showed that 70% of Haitians reported support for an international mission.

Is this 70% support for an international mission similar to support in other areas where blue helmets are deployed, to your knowledge? I'm curious about that.

[Shalini Anand]

Mr. Chair, I apologize. I do not have that data point at my fingertips, but I am happy to return to the honourable member if that data point is available.

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Thanks.

My understanding is that at the Security Council, both China and Russia prevented a UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti. Is that correct?

[Shalini Anand]

Yes, to our knowledge. That is what we understand.

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

On the multinational security support mission in Haiti, which started in October 2023 and has been renewed for another year, my understanding is that there are currently 410 police officers on the ground and the idea is to grow the mission to 2,500.

How far along are we in that growth, and when is that growth expected to happen?

[Shalini Anand]

I will take a moment to expand on the growth plans and turn to my colleague in case she has anything to add.

Jamaica plans to deploy approximately 200 additional personnel. This is expected in January 2025, so it is upcoming. Belize has plans to deploy 50 personnel, including 20 infantry and 30 coast guard personnel, and it is planning to sync up with Jamaica, so it looks like a January 2025 deployment for Belize as well.

Guatemala plans to deploy military police. That's a unit of 150 personnel, including 18 to 19 female personnel, which is encouraging. That is anticipated for mid- to late December 2024.

The Bahamas is planning to deploy 50 maritime personnel, including an offshore patrol vessel and rigid inflatable boats operated by its command, and it hopes to do so imminently.

El Salvador has plans to deploy three personnel in Haiti directly, as well as 75 personnel to the Dominican Republic. The deployment has been slightly delayed on account of the need for additional training and vaccinations to be completed, and medevac plans, but a new date is anticipated quite soon.

In addition to the personnel it has already deployed, Kenya plans to deploy another 600-plus additional personnel, including 40 female SWAT operators. That date is now anticipated to be December 14.

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Excellent.

I did the math. There are 1,125 more personnel, including in the DR, plus three.

[Shalini Anand]

That's impressively quick.

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

That's good news.

I'm curious about the blue helmets that we were hoping to deploy. What was the footprint of the presence, as it relates to this expected increase in the MSSM? What was the expected presence of blue helmets that we were looking for, if you could compare and contrast?

[Shalini Anand]

I'll turn to my colleague.

[Sylvie Bédard]

Mr. Chair, the list of deployments being planned is very much what we're hoping for. Those are also linked to the capacity of the base to receive more personnel.

At the moment, in Port-au-Prince, the local base for the MSSM can have up to 1,000 police officers and soldiers, including women. Thanks to Canada's contribution, we made sure that there were safe spaces for women. It's very important to have women as part of the MSSM in order to help with the implementation of the compliance mechanism in place to prevent sexual abuse and exploitation.

Once this base is full, the plan is to establish what is called “forward operating bases” in various areas of Port-au-Prince in neighbourhood departments to be able to accommodate more police force.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Thank you.

We next go to Mr. Trudel.

You have two and a half minutes.

[Denis Trudel, Bloc, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would like to discuss arms trafficking because it's also important, even vitally important. According to one BBC article, armed groups now have, for example, 9mm pistols and AK-47s, a weapon that has considerable strike force. According to a report that the UN published in 2020, there were probably half a million legal and illegal firearms in the country at that time. It also stated that weapons were being transported by land, air and sea and that there were various points of entry.

What is Canada doing to prevent arms trafficking in Haiti?

Incidentally, according to that same UN report, the weapons were mainly coming from Florida, Texas and Georgia, in particular.

Are any discussions being conducted with the Americans? How does that work?

[Sylvie Bédard]

Illegal arms trafficking is a major concern for Canada. It's obviously part of our integrated approach to the present crisis. Canada is striving to prevent arms trafficking by supporting partner organizations such as the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. We're also working with the Organization of American States, which is involved in the fight against illegal arms trafficking and, in particular, in increasing the capacity of Haitian border agents, who are on the front line in controlling arms trafficking.

We also support the efforts made through the UN Security Council's sanctions regime, which has been put in place to monitor arms trafficking closely. In its reports, the Security Council comments, for example, on the routes used for arms trafficking purposes and assists international partners in taking the necessary measures to restrict it. In addition, Canada and other partners have established a sanctions regime targeting political and economic elites who finance the purchase of weapons and munitions by gangs in Haiti.

[Denis Trudel, Bloc, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

When you say political elites, who are you talking about? Can you give us some names?

I see my time is up. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

The last time I gave you a lot of latitude, and you were almost two minutes over.

Madame McPherson, you have two and a half minutes.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Thank you very much.

Thank you for the answer to that question from my colleague from the Bloc. I understand you've said that we are supporting the UN and we are discussing with the U.S.

Has Canada allocated funding and resources to investigate? Have we invested in stopping the flow of ammunition and weapons?

[Sylvie Bédard]

The answer is yes. I don't have the exact figures, but in the context of the projects involving the United Nations and the Organization of American States, the OAS, more than $15 million has been granted to those partners to monitor the situation closely and to increase capacity to combat arms trafficking in Haiti.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Thank you.

I wanted to also follow up on the question that was asked by our Liberal colleagues. We talk about the peacekeeping mission. Russia and China have denied it becoming an official UN peacekeeping mission. At the moment Canada—if I understand correctly—has 21 peacekeepers in UN missions around the world. Of those, there is only one who is a woman, and there are 10 police. Would we even have the capacity, with such a low number of peacekeepers, to participate in a UN peacekeeping mission, if that were to happen?

[Shalini Anand]

Mr. Chair, I don't have the data points that the honourable member has in front of me, but certainly we can investigate that and come back in writing, unless my colleague has anything further to add on the numbers.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

It's not necessarily on the numbers but it's even the idea that Canada at this point is wildly under-represented in UN peacekeeping, despite the fact that the current administration promised that several hundred peacekeepers would be deployed around the world. At this point, we have a couple of dozen. I'm just wondering, regardless of the numbers, whether or not we have the capacity to engage in peacekeeping anymore as a country.

[Shalini Anand]

Mr. Chair, I'm happy to come back to the honourable member in writing in terms of our capacity, but I don't have that information at my fingertips. Certainly, we are in discussion on that piece of the puzzle, but we have not advanced discussion to that level of detail.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Thank you.

Now we go to MP Aboultaif.

You have five minutes.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Thank you for your generosity, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the panel for appearing.

President Macron criticized the dismissal of the prime minister by the transitional presidential council, blaming Haitians for “letting drug trafficking take over”.

Drug trafficking may lead, of course, to money laundering. I was hoping the minister would be here to answer a question of that scale. Hopefully, Canada's assistance there is not jeopardized or exposed to the money laundering in that country. Do you have any idea where these cartels, beside money laundering, are getting their funds to be able to control 85% of the country?

[Shalini Anand]

Indeed the situation is very challenging, and there is certainly a cartel and gang problem in Haiti. While I won't speculate on Mr. Macron's comments, I will note that one of the mechanisms Canada uses to ensure that our aid is getting into the right hands is to work with international partners that have deep experience in these types of challenging states with these types of circumstances.

Another mechanism we use is a continued evaluation and monitoring of the results of that aid, to ensure that it is getting into the right hands and delivering the types of results my colleague mentioned earlier.

Those are some of the mechanisms we take to ensure that our assistance is being used in a manner that aligns with the intended outcomes we've set out.