NDDN Committee Report

NDP Dissenting Report On NDDN Interim Report on Canada’s Task Force in Mali

The NDP dissents from the National Defence Committee report on The Transition of Canada’s Task Force in Mali. The Interim report fails to reflect the danger for UN operations in Mali resulting from an early departure of the Canadian Forces and fails to reflect the critical nature of the UN mission in Mali to stability in West Africa.  New Democrats strongly support Canada’s involvement in the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) and the Canadian Armed Forces’ contingent in Operation PRESENCE (Task Force Mali).  When the Defence Committee visited Mali in February we heard universal praise for our support for the mission and for the high level of expertise Canadian Forces have brought to the field.  As well, the Committee repeatedly heard that the MEDEVAC support Canada brings to the mission is critical to UN operations in Mali.

It is important for Canadians to know exactly what MINUSMA is doing in Mali. This UN force is responsible for protecting schools and hospitals, transportation lines, protection for humanitarian aid delivery, including food delivery to civilians in a country where one quarter of the population is directly dependent on international food aid.   It is the support that MINUSMA is providing to the ongoing peace process that will prevent Mali from descending in to a failed state and a haven for terrorist activities. This important work cannot be carried out without the aeromedical evacuation (MEDEVAC) services that Canada is providing under Operation PRESENCE. Canada currently has three Chinook and five Griffon helicopters, transport capability with the CC-130J Hercules, and 250 Canadian Armed Forces members in Mali.

Romania has been tasked with taking over for Canada after the July 31, 2019 end-date. However, Romania has been clear that the timing of the request means that they cannot be operational until October 15^th, 2019 at the earliest due to the need to complete training, preparation of necessary equipment, and finding the heavy-lift capability necessary to get their forces into the field. Between Canada ceasing operations and pulling out of Mali, and Romania’s earliest estimation of October 15^th, there is a substantial capability gap for MEDEVAC services, which will force MINUSMA to limit their operations. This gap will put humanitarian aid delivery and the peace process at risk.  While the UN may be able to fill a portion of that gap with private contractors, it is important to recognize that this “white fleet” does not have military capability and cannot operate within active conflict zones or at night.  A significant gap in MEDEVAC services beyond a normal one-month transition would likely require scaling down of MINUSMA stabilization and protection activities in Mali.

New Democrats remain disappointed in the government of Canada for the short 12-month commitment to Mali and for imposing a hard exit date of July 31, 2019.   The government’s position is that its new “Smart Pledging” policy requires both short commitments and hard exit dates when neither is the case.   New Democrats support the Interim Report in its call for Canada to do everything possible to help Romania, a NATO ally with whom we have worked closely on other missions, become operational as quickly as possible and for keeping the capability gap as small as possible. This should include providing the heavy-lift transportation to get Romanian equipment in to the field quickly and possibly leaving some Canadian assets in the field while Romania works to become completely operational.

When the Liberals took office in 2015 the Government of Canada made a declaration that Canada was back and ready to punch above our weight. In the intervening years, there has been little action to back up those words. Our global partners are watching, and they are holding Canada to their promise of greater UN participation in peace operations. In Mali, Canadians have been making a real difference with the level of expertise our Forces have been able to contribute, both on a technical level with the equipment and at a personal level with our highly-trained and capable service members, and our demonstration that women can play key roles in peace support operations.  The role the Canadian Forces have played has been vital to the operations of MINUSMA, itself a mission of supreme importance to preserving regional stability in West Africa. The world cannot afford Mali becoming a failed state.  This would bring about an enormous humanitarian crisis, an increase in trafficking in guns, drugs, and people through the region, and yet another flow of migrants toward developed nations. Canada has the knowledge and expertise to help prevent this catastrophe and New Democrats continue to urge the Government of Canada to not abandon our role in Mali too early.

New Democrats believe that the Interim Report should have included the following recommendations:

• 1) That the government of Canada recognize the serious consequences that state failure in Mali would have on ongoing humanitarian aid efforts, on counter trafficking operations aimed at stopping the flow of drugs, guns, and people across the Sahel, and on future refugees flows.
• 2) That the government of Canada recognize the important role MINUSMA is playing in stabilizing Mali and entire the region.
• 3) That the government of Canada recommit support for Mali in view of longstanding Canadian development assistance programming in view of the ongoing economic ties between Canada and Mali.
• 4) That the government of Canada extend its support mission to MINUSMA until October 15th, 2019.  This is necessary to avoid a lengthy gap in provision of MEDEVAC services in view of the fact that Canada’s air MEDEVAC replacement will not be in place until October 15th.
• 5) That the government of Canada expedite a package of assistance measures to assist in the stabilization of Mali to flow immediately after the end of our current military mission in order to demonstrate Canada’s ongoing support for MINUSMA and that this package include additional measures to expedite the arrival of Canada’s promised contribution to the police training mission in Mali and provide additional support to the peace process in Mali, in particular the DDR (Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration) Program.
• 6) That the government of Canada offer additional bilateral military assistance to the G5 Sahel nations based on the successful model of Canada’s Project Naberius in Niger in order to increase their capacity to guarantee their own security.
• 7) That the government of Canada increase its commitment to women, peace, and security programming as it has been shown that women taking active roles in peace operations lead to higher success rates for those operations and help foster better relationships with local communities than predominantly male-dominated operations.