Canada Willing To Consider Training, Equipping Formed Police

C O N F I D E N T I A L OTTAWA 000093 NOFORN SIPDIS AMEMBASSY OTTAWA PASS TO AMCONSUL QUEBEC AMEMBASSY OTTAWA PASS TO APP WINNIPEG E.O. 12958: DECL: 2020/02/26 TAGS: PREL PGOV SOCI MCAP ASEC MARR KJUS KPKO EFIN HA CA SUBJECT: Canada Willing To Consider Training, Equipping Formed Police Units for Haiti REF: STATE 17308 CLASSIFIED BY: Scott Bellard, Political Minister Counselor, Ottawa, POL; REASON: 1.4(B),(D) ¶1. (C/NF) In a discussion with Deputy Pol/C on February 25, Michael Kaduck, Director of Peace Operations and Fragile States at the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT), dismissed the idea of contributing a Canadian formed police unit (FPU) for Haiti. He noted that Canada had encountered significant difficulties in finding the 60 extra recently pledged civilian police officers, the list of whom Canada recently had forwarded to the UN's Department of Peacekeeping Operations. He elaborated further that DFAIT "would not recommend under any circumstances" providing Canadian FPUs for MINUSTAH because it would be an "egregious misuse of resources." Kaduck emphasized that FPUs tend to "spend a lot of time in the barracks" until some public order situation arises and that is not a "rational use" of "fantastically expensive" and "highly skilled" Canadian police officers. Kaduck was adamant that if he had an extra 140 Canadian police--which he stressed he does not--he would use them as CIVPOL mentors and trainers, rather than as garrison-based FPUs. 2 (C/NF) Kaduck underscored that DFAIT was much more inclined to discuss how Canada might train and equip third countries to stand up their own FPUs for service in Haiti. He observed that Canada has already trained and equipped three francophone African-nation FPUs for assignment with UNAMID in Darfur, and they might be willing to explore that option with MINUSTAH. He cautioned that he does not "know the upper limit of how many potential FPUs are actually out there to deploy to Haiti." He noted that deploying 20 FPUs would "actually require 60-20 in the field, 20 preparing to go, and 20 just returning." Kaduck shared that any new Canadian initiative of this magnitude would require a ministerial initiative, perhaps even the Prime Minister, to go forward. He suggested that it would likely require a "high level ask" by "senior U.S. counterparts." JACOBSON