OTTAWA — The Trudeau government offered a taste of its peacekeeping plan on Wednesday by promising millions in funding for women’s rights abroad, even as signs point to an actual mission coming soon. Women’s rights advocates and foreign aid groups welcomed the commitments, which also included deploying more female Canadian peacekeepers, during an event in Ottawa with four cabinet ministers. Yet the government remained vague when it came to the two biggest questions: When and where will Canadian peacekeepers be deployed? The UN and representatives from several peacekeeping countries have made no secret of the fact that their top priority is helicopters for the Mali mission. “It would be an embarrassment for Canada to host the UN Peacekeeping Defence Ministerial Conference in our city without making any real contributions to peacekeeping,” Sen. Mobina Jaffer told Sajjan on Tuesday.

Source: National Post November 01, 2017 17:38 UTC