Mackay says troop mission to Haiti is diplomatic

OTTAWA — The Conservative government has no plans to re-embrace peacekeeping despite sending 34 soldiers to serve alongside Brazilian blue helmets in Haiti, Defence Minister Peter MacKay said Wednesday.

Canada’s role in peacekeeping has dropped off precipitously over the past decade, to the point where the country ranked 57th out of 114 troop-contributing nations with 132 personnel deployed on UN operations in February. That number is deceiving, however, as 100 were police officers and only 20 were soldiers.

The decade-long commitment to Afghanistan has been blamed for the move away from peacekeeping, though the pending withdrawal of all Canadian soldiers next March has left soldiers wondering where their next mission will be.

Re-announced by MacKay on Wednesday, the deployment of a platoon to the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti until December more than doubles the number of Canadian troops deployed on peacekeeping missions.

That continues a long tradition of Canadians wearing blue helmets in the strife-torn island nation over the past 20 years. But MacKay was quick to confirm that Canada wasn’t re-upping with the UN in any significant way, but that the mission was part of a larger effort to help Haiti while strengthening ties with the emerging political, economic and military powerhouse that is Brazil.