Canadian police presence on peacekeeping missions hits 13-year low
OTTAWA — The number of Canadian police officers on UN missions has reached its lowest point in more than a decade despite a shortage of such personnel on many peacekeeping operations and a Liberal promise to address it.
New figures from the United Nations show there were 15 Canadian police officers participating in peacekeeping missions at the end of November, all of them based in Haiti.
That was the smallest number since at least 2005, according to Walter Dorn, a peacekeeping expert at the Canadian Forces College in Toronto, who has been tracking the statistics.
The shrinking presence comes despite the fact many UN missions are short hundreds of police officers, who are considered essential for building long-term peace and stability in troubled countries.