The official Opposition is criticizing the Liberal government for not providing a “clear understanding” of the role Canadian troops will play in any peacekeeping missions.
Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, meanwhile, says he is taking his time to make sure Canada gets the mission right.
During an address at the UN Peacekeeping Defence Ministerial Thursday in London, Sajjan vowed Canada will be a “responsible partner in the world.” He said that Canada will contribute 600 troops and 150 police officers, but didn’t say when or where that could happen.
Sajjan visited Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Congo earlier this summer. Observers have suggested Canada’s troops might be deployed to Mali, South Sudan or the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Speaking to reporters outside the conference, Sajjan said that the government is doing its due diligence and that Canadians will be the first to know when a decision is made on which mission the peacekeepers will join.
“If you look at the previous announcements we’ve made as a government, whether it’s been in Iraq or in NATO, it’s about understanding conflict first,” Sajjan said.
Sajjan told Power Play host Don Martin that before he sends troops into “harm’s way” he wants to “take the time to get all the necessary ground truth and go eyes wide open...”
“This is not the peacekeeping of the past,” he added. “There is no peace to keep in some cases and where there is peace, it is extremely fragile.”
Earlier on Thursday, Official Opposition critic for National Defence James Bezan said the UN conference presented Sajjan with the “perfect opportunity” to answer questions that the Conservatives and “many Canadians” have been asking regarding their peacekeeping plan.
“Before sending any Canadian Armed Forces personnel to war zones, Canadians expect to know when, where and why our troops are being deployed,” Bezan said at a news conference in Ottawa.
The government should also provide the public with mission details such as location, length of time for deployment, and rules of engagement, Bezan said, adding deployment could “place Canadian troops in some of the most dangerous regions in the world, without responding to any pressing needs in Canada’s national interests.”
Conservatives question motive
Bezan also said that he believes the “ultimate goal” of committing peacekeeping troops is to secure a seat for Canada on the UN Security Council.
“That, to me, is politics, and we shouldn't be using our troops as pawns,” he said.
Minister Sajjan responded to the accusation on Power Play, stating that the mission is about Canada being “a responsible partner in the world.”
“If we think the problems and conflicts in those areas don’t impact us, well, we’re wrong,” he said, offering the examples of the migrant crisis in Europe and the rise of radical terror groups.
“Plus, at the end of the day, it’s the right thing to do,” Sajjan added. “We cannot just ignore the atrocities being committed in that part of the world.”
'Extremely complex'
During the UN conference, Sajjan called “peace support operations” one of Canada’s “most important” endeavours.
“I also want to stress the fact that this will be a whole government effort, not just strictly a military one,” Sajjan said, adding he will be working closely with ministerial colleagues Dion, as well as International Development Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau and Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale.
He said the conflicts he is seeing in regions of Africa are “extremely complex.”
“It is not the conflicts of before,” Sajjan said. “We have radical organizations also in the intermix, in the political strife that’s going on in particular regions.”
Sajjan said the government must be “far more innovative in our approach.
“We need to look at the lessons that our African Union partners have already learned,” he said. “We need to look at our own lessons that we have learned from the different conflicts.”
Sajjan, a seasoned veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces, said he “may be new” to politics, but “I’m not a novice to conflict and we need to elevate that conversation.”
