Canada supporting C’bean in security matters

“Canada is very much aware that security in the Caribbean has a bearing on security of us in the North.”

So stated Canadian High Commissioner, His Excellency Richard Hanley, as he addressed key law enforcement officials from across the region, gathered recently in Barbados.

The Canadian High Commissioner therefore noted that Canada’s efforts are focused on assisting Caribbean partners by strengthening local capacity, particularly through justice and security system reform, as well as on stemming drug trafficking and money laundering trough out the region.

His Excellency Richard Hanley also cited a number of security related Government of Canada programmes currently in place in the Caribbean, including Canada’s Anti-crime Capacity Building Programme, which has contributed $22 million between 2009 and 2013.

Hanley stated that other initiatives include the establishment of a virtual training institute  in the Eastern Caribbean via the Regional Security System(RSS); supporting the RSS Air Wing through the provision of radar equipment; working with the US to establish a regional integrated ballistic identification network among Caribbean community members; supporting police professionalisation in the Turks and Caicos; assisting in reforming the justice sector in Trinidad and Tobago; supporting several projects
implemented by the Organisation of American States and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.

Canada’s Department of National Defence, through its Military Training Cooperation Programme, also offers professional development training to members of the armed forces in the Caribbean, Hanley said.

Hanley stressed that the region’s law enforcement officials are faced with difficult challenges and with limited resources they still have to seek to make the region safer for Caribbean citizens and also Canadian tourists who like to visit the region.

Hanley’s comments on these matters came as he addressed top law enforcement and security officials at the recently held Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police, held in Barbados. (RSM)