“We note what happened yesterday in the Security Council. You know that Canada has always been involved in issues related to Haiti. We will continue to do so,” she said in a press conference on Tuesday.

M^Me Joly recalled that last March Canada announced additional funding of 100 million to strengthen the capacity of the Haitian National Police.

“But we want to do more. That is why we will continue (our) diplomatic discussions and I want to tell you that we will continue to support solutions that are by and for Haitians,” she continued.

The minister mentioned that she met with Canada’s UN Ambassador Bob Rae on Monday as well as her Kenyan counterpart Alfred Mutua, with whom she is “in very close contact.”

The U.N. Security Council voted that day to send a Kenyan-led multinational force to Haiti to combat violent gangs in the crisis-hit Caribbean country.

The resolution authorizes the deployment of the force for a period of one year with a review after nine months. It would be the first time such a mission has been deployed in Haiti since UN approval almost 20 years ago.

While the extent of the intervention remains to be determined, Jamaica, the Bahamas and Antigua and Barbuda have already agreed to support Kenya by deploying personnel. The American administration of Joe Biden also promised to provide logistics and $100 million.

For its part, Canada has not indicated what role it might play. Washington has asked Ottawa to lead such a multinational mission in the past. The request for such a force first came nearly a year ago from unelected Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has since repeatedly pointed to the failures of previous UN interventions as well as Canada’s desire not to repeat the mistakes of the past.

In March, Chief of Defense Staff Gen. Wayne Eyre said the Canadian Armed Forces did not have the resources to lead a military operation in Haiti.

In the eyes of Liberal MP Emmanuel Dubourg, sending Canadian soldiers is actually out of the question. “I would say no, but on the other hand (at the level of) technical assistance from here or from neighboring countries, yes, I think Canada can play a role,” the elected official of Haitian descent said Tuesday.

According to him, there is no doubt that Canada will participate in the Kenya-led mission. Asked whether the Haitian population was divided over the idea of ​​sending a multinational force, Mr. Dubourg said he believed it was a thing of the past.

“It is true that at the beginning the Haitians did not want to have army troops on the ground, as they say, but as time goes on we see all the crimes that these criminal gangs commit, so it is important that they accept now,” In In a way, these people are helping, because the Haitian National Police cannot solve this problem alone,” he said.

The bloc’s foreign policy spokesman, Stéphane Bergeron, believes that the fact that Kenya’s proposed mission has received UN Security Council approval “perhaps eliminates some criticisms of the idea of ​​international intervention.”

“I imagine the Canadian government is exploring the best ways to make the most relevant and useful contribution, and I dare hope that is exactly what we are currently doing in government offices: not questioning (knowing whether) we are participating “Whether or not we participate in this mission, the question is rather how we should participate,” he argued.

No deployment date has been set for the Kenya-led mission. Minister Mutua told the BBC that the force should be deployed in Haiti from the 1st^um January 2024, “if not sooner”.

With Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press and with the Associated Press