Caribbean leaders want Canada to advocate for global financial institution reform to help smaller states combat climate change.
They also hope an international military presence in Haiti will stop guns from reaching other islands.
The two-day Ottawa meeting convened by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to strengthen connections with the region focused on those issues.
CARICOM encompasses 15 countries and five overseas territories, from Bahamas to Trinidad and Tobago, but not Cuba.
Trudeau said Canada joins with these nations in a challenging world.
“It is now more clear than ever that economic policy is security policy, is climate policy, is social policy — everything is interconnected,” stated.
“These are crucial times. We must work together as strategic partners and allies to protect and serve our folks.”
Climate change and biodiversity were discussed by the leaders on Wednesday, followed by lending institution reform.
Caribbean nations have complained that they are now middle-income nations that don’t receive the same funding as sub-Saharan Africa.
That leaves them economically devastated by large hurricanes and unable to purchase storm-resistant infrastructure.
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley claimed the IMF and World Bank are unprepared for it.
“We come to these meetings and we’re not getting the needle moving because of political will,” she told leaders.
“Canada has the potential not just to be a leader in this, but to also start to be able to help us speak truth to power.”
Mottley has led governments to propose new finance arrangements, such as a vulnerability matrix that considers small countries’ economic capabilities and climatic risk.
Last year, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly addressed the UN General Assembly and called for reform.
Without identifying governments, Mottley said a “remaining few countries who are blocking progress” to reform.
“We literally collapse the capacity of countries to respond in ways that are necessary for people’s lives to be maintained,” stated.
Trudeau and Mottley co-chair a UN Sustainable Development Goals advocacy group and have concentrated on helping smaller governments recover economically from the COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters.
Leaders reviewed Haiti’s political and humanitarian challenges on Wednesday afternoon to stop Caribbean gang violence.
Prime Minister Keith Rowley said guns are proliferating across the region and causing multiple-casualty attack shootings.
“We have seen an explosion in the use of illegal arms and ammunition, on a daily basis,” he claimed, claiming gangs outgun authorities in most Caribbean nations.
Rowley said leaders have requested the U.S. to reduce arms trafficking and Canada to provide small boats to patrol coastlines.
This week’s sessions are Haitian prime minister Ariel Henry’s first visit to Canada since August 2021, when he took office without being elected after the president’s assassination.
In a statement, Trudeau’s office stressed “the urgent need for a power-sharing agreement between Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry and opposition groups.”
Henry didn’t question that public callout.
“We hope that we all make progress, and we get to a point where Haiti is no longer on the page of bad news,” he said in French.
Kenya-led international military intervention to drive out gangs who have committed blatant atrocities and obstructed basics was approved by the UN Security Council last month.
Trudeau thinks Caribbean leaders and Canada can assist Haiti create effective enforcement and fight corruption after the mission.
Canada is seeking votes for its UN Human Rights Council bid at the meeting.
Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said Canada is a longtime Caribbean relationship.
“Our region has traditionally relied on Canada’s advocacy to highlight our challenges and realities, and promote our interests in international fora where we don’t have a voice,” he said at the summit’s start.
A trade and investment roundtable will precede the leaders’ afternoon press conference on Thursday.
Oct. 18, 2023 saw The Canadian Press publish this report.
