Canada has been excluded from a counter-ISIS coalition meeting in Paris this week.
The meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, but a spokesperson for Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan confirmed Canada is not invited.
The Liberal government has promised to pull Canada’s CF-18 fighter jets from the coalition bombing mission against ISIS. While Ottawa has not given a timeline, Canada’s fighter-jet commitment ends in April.
Sajjan’s director of communications, Renee Filiatrault, said the minister is focused on a later coalition meeting of defence ministers on Feb. 11.
“It’s worth mentioning that the Minister is also regularly in contact with coalition partners including the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL, Brett McGurk,” Filiatrault told CTV News in a statement.
Filiatrault also noted that Sajjan recently travelled to Iraq, where he “met with allies and partners on the ground.”
The Globe and Mail reported that Wednesday’s meeting is for “significant contributors” to the anti-ISIS coalition, including the United States, Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Australia and the Netherlands.
