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Canada  

Peacekeeping at new low

The Trudeau Liberals may have promised to ramp up Canada's involvement in peacekeeping, but new UN figures show that Canada had fewer peacekeepers deployed on missions in September than at any point in recent memory — including under the Harper Conservatives.

Canada had 112 soldiers and police officers working on UN missions in August 2016, when the Liberals announced their plan to make up to 600 soldiers and 150 police available for peacekeeping.

Since then, however, the number of Canadian blue helmets and blue berets in the field has steadily dropped, to the point where Canada had only 68 peacekeepers in the field last month.

Walter Dorn, an expert on peacekeeping at the Canadian Forces College in Toronto who has studied the numbers, says that is the smallest number since at least 1990.

By comparison, Canada's smallest contribution to peacekeeping under Stephen Harper, who made no secret of his dislike for the UN, was 88 soldiers and police officers in October 2014.

Dorn says the numbers are a potential embarrassment for Canada, given that it is set to host a major peacekeeping summit in Vancouver in November.



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