Foreign Affairs committee  The best way to help the evolution of peacekeeping is by participating in it and getting the expertise we once had. One of our military advisers in New York at the Canadian permanent mission said, after I arrived at the Canadian Forces College, that we were the best peacekeepers

Foreign Affairs committee  The African missions today need peace enforcement in many cases, as in South Sudan, in DRC and in the Central African Republic. That requires combat-capable troops. Peace enforcement is only done when all other means have failed. As a last resort you use peacekeepers to do combat

Foreign Affairs committee  Absolutely. Canada was the only country that reinforced its presence in Rwanda during the 100-day genocide of 1994. That was a very proud moment. I knew some of the soldiers who risked their lives to do that and suffered from PTSD afterwards. For Sudan, when the Pentagon asked

Foreign Affairs committee  I agree with that, yes. If you look at what we deployed in Afghanistan, you can see it was 3,000 for 10 years. I think it's quite possible to triple or quadruple our numbers in peacekeeping very easily. There isn't a personnel shortage that would make you go from the current 44

Foreign Affairs committee  The military takes instructions from political leaders. When I asked Justin Trudeau why we aren't doing more on peacekeeping, he simply said that they're working on it. It's been paralysis through analysis. Which mission do we go to? There have been so many studies about where w

Foreign Affairs committee  No. In Mali, it was purely that there was a coup—actually two coups—and the leaders didn't want the UN there, so the MINUSMA mission left. I'm talking about 2017, when we could have gotten the position.

Foreign Affairs committee  It's so difficult. The Iamgold Corporation has large mines there. We have interests in and a long history of supporting Mali. Mali was such an example of democracy for so many decades. It was what African countries could look up to. Now that the Wagner Group has a solidified pre

Foreign Affairs committee  I know many women military officers who want to deploy and have complained that they've tried for more than half a decade. There is a large group. Women make up approximately 16% of our military, so I don't think it's a question of resources. I've spoken with almost every CDS in

Foreign Affairs committee  I think there is a big cost, but I'll answer by speaking in the positive. I have met so many military officers who've said they went to the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre. That existed from 1994 until 2013. We don't have that anymore. We don't have a place in Canada where you can t

Foreign Affairs committee  You can do so because the first principle of UN peacekeeping is consent. You have to have the consent of the host state and the major parties in the conflict. The second is impartiality, and the third is minimum use of force in defence and defence of mandate. We can better stren

Foreign Affairs committee  I strongly support your idea. As a multicultural country, we have that as a strong resource. Bilingualism, particularly in francophone Africa, is a strong component of what we can contribute to peacekeeping in those countries. We can also be an example. You can have people whose

Foreign Affairs committee  Absolutely. You have to respect them as individuals. You have to respect their cultures and you have to help integrate culture into your policies.

Foreign Affairs committee  Sure. An example is Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General of the UN. He gave tremendous pride to Africans. It was an important part of having a good understanding of Africa.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, you should be able to get those people deployed. I have some people coming to my office saying they've been trying to deploy on peace operations, but they can't because there are so few opportunities. We have so few posts in peacekeeping.