Canada has pledged $60 million to help Haiti fight back brazen criminal gangs, with most of the funding contingent on the United Nations supporting an American plan to expand a police mission into a gang-suppression force.
“We have to work collectively toward regional peace and regional security,” Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said Tuesday at an event she co-hosted with her Haitian counterpart at the United Nations.
Haiti has been racked by violence and political chaos since 2021 and armed gangs control much of the country. Canada has targeted members of Haiti’s economic elite with sanctions, arguing they have collaborated with gangs sowing instability across the country.
In June 2024, Kenya launched a mission supported by the UN aimed at empowering the Haitian police and fighting back gangs, with a goal of establishing peace and permitting elections.
Canada has helped the mission mostly by co-ordinating international aid, surveillance and training.This week, the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is pushing the UN Security Council to replace the mission with a much larger and better-funded gang suppression force.
Anand told the meeting she co-hosted Tuesday that the proposed “renewed and enhanced security mission” is crucial to reopening schools and stopping a hunger crisis that stems from widespread violence and property theft by gangs.
She said Canada is ready to spend $40 million to support that mission, if it’s adopted by the UN.Anand also announced $20 million for maritime security in the Caribbean aimed at stopping the flow of arms and drugs in and through Haiti.
Canada has already pledged $80 million for the ongoing police mission led by Kenya.“ As the mission’s second-largest financial contributor, we are clearly committed to its success and we count on other partners to also step up their support,” Anand said.
“Their needs will be greater than ever, as the resolution currently proposes a fivefold increase in size, funding, personnel, and equipment,” This week, Kenyan President William Ruto said the ongoing mission has struggled to succeed with only 40 per cent of the 2,500 security personnel it was designed for.Anand said Haiti’s transitional government will find it “increasingly difficult” to get international support if it doesn’t have “concrete progress … toward free and fair elections” and “economic reforms to foster competition in the domestic market.”
On Tuesday, lawmakers pressed officials at the House foreign affairs committee on the possibility that Canada would send troops to Haiti as part of the new United Nations mission.
Canada commits $60M to Haiti, wants UN to back U.S. gang suppression plan
