National Defence committee  I'm not sure whether Canada is engaged with the current processes in the UN. I would assume so, but there are different levels you can engage at. So it could be at the level of one person from DFAIT occasionally contributing to discussions where I think Canada could be a leader i

National Defence committee  Its credibility, values--

National Defence committee  The way it's seen in the world is important, because Canada is still seen as a player that doesn't really have an interest in conflict somewhere else, other than Afghanistan, I would say. It's not only that Canadians would see the value in Canada engaging in UN peace operations

National Defence committee  The support for the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the number of troops being contributed by the countries with more capacity has declined over the last ten years. It's not only Canada; it's other countries as well. It has not been so radical as Canada pulling out of t

National Defence committee  I don't know that it was a high point. They were there late. The whole village, and everything, was burnt down. But it was a principled action based on the values of protecting civilians, protecting civilian property, and so on. And once they were there, they were able to protect

National Defence committee  I don't think they have a deadline. I don't think they do. I don't know of one. Knowing the United Nations, it will probably drag on for a couple of years. That's why I said in my presentation that this is a good time to engage. I know that they are having consultations, includin

National Defence committee  Mostly Afghans. We have staff. We mostly focus on humanitarian assistance, but we have some development activities. Most of our staff...in general, it's one international to ten locals. In Afghanistan it's even higher. I think we only have three internationals currently, and they

National Defence committee  It would resonate with the Canadian public.

National Defence committee  I don't know if I'm an expert on it. Oxfam has been trying to engage the United Nations and the DPKO, actually, in broadening their consultations and engaging with everybody else. I know that recently they had a report issued that outlined options for reform and different kinds o

National Defence committee  Yes. The one that scares me a lot is Zimbabwe. I hope not, but the country faces so many problems: the humanitarian crisis; the effects of climate change; the years of subsequent droughts; the cholera problem; the hyper-inflation that they have now stopped, but really, the fundam

National Defence committee  I think, possibly, talking about protection of civilians in peace operations. Peace operations covers the gamut of it, which I think is fair to be used. But then knowing the Canadian public, and knowing how they react to suffering of people overseas, focus on protection of civili

National Defence committee  The Haiti one is easy. It's coordination, coordination, coordination. If we coordinate really well, we will have the information and we won't be falling prey to fake tent cities and so on. Coordination in general has been a big problem in Haiti, partly because there are too many

National Defence committee  I honestly don't know what the answer to that is. I have spoken with a person from Tufts University who has done the research and who went around and talked to Afghani people, focus groups, women, men, and so on. He said that one thing that jumped out of what they thought would r

National Defence committee  Maybe using the efforts that we put into building schools that then get blown up should be put in the military, should be put into training Afghani security forces. Honestly, I'm not an expert, and I don't know if I can speak with any credibility on this, but I would say that res

National Defence committee  I'd say better than in Afghanistan, in the sense that the humanitarian agencies.... The situation is somewhat different. While we do get targeted, these are incidents in Somalia, rather than across the board, as it is in Afghanistan. Humanitarian agencies are not seen as enemies