NDP: Trudeau Must Accept UN Request to Extend Mali Mission, Help Ensure Operation Success

OTTAWA – Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government has buried a formal request from the United Nations asking Canada to extend its mission in Mali until replacements arrive. For at least a month, Prime Minister Trudeau has been misleading the public by claiming that the UN only asked Canada to stay for one year which is up on August 1.

“Last month when we visited Mali, the Defence Committee clearly heard that Canada ending our mission in Mali before our Romanian replacements can arrive in mid-October not only risks lives but also our international reputation as peacekeepers,” said NDP Defence Critic Randall Garrison (Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke). “Now that the UN has formally requested an extension, the Liberals must give up their line that the UN only asked us to commit for one year and should extend the mission. Neither the world nor Canada can afford a failed state in Mali and the humanitarian catastrophe and safe haven for terrorism that would result.”

Canada has 250 military personnel and eight helicopters in Mali where they have been providing essential medical evacuations as well as troop and equipment transportation across a vast and unstable country. The Canadian mission in Mali has provided central support to UN peacekeepers in their work defending schools, hospitals, transportation and food dissemination. Just last week over 130 villagers were killed in an attack in Central Mali.

“Leaving our friends and allies without essential medical evacuation and transportation for three months drastically limits the capacity of the UN mission,” said Garrison. “The international community must succeed in Mali if we are to avoid a major humanitarian disaster and the increase in drug trafficking, gun trafficking, human trafficking and enormous refugee flows that would result from a failed state in Mali.”

“Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan will be in New York for a major UN peacekeeping summit later this week,” said Garrison. “This would be a perfect opportunity to heed the call of our friends and allies. Extending the Mali mission until Romanian troops arrive would save lives as well as our international reputation.”