Canada’s Record in the Caribbean Does Not Merit A Security Council seat

Dear United Nations Ambassadors,

Canada is expecting Caribbean support in its bid for a seat on the Security Council. But, Canada does not deserve it.

While the Canadian government often uses progressive, internationalist rhetoric, its current actions and failure to apologize for its imperialist, racist past belie the claims.

For example, over the past two years Ottawa has sought to undercut CARICOM’s non-interventionist position towards Venezuela. Canadian officials have repeatedly pressured CARICOM countries to join its campaign to remove President Nicolás Maduro. In September Prime Minister Justin Trudeau raised the issue of  Venezuela with CARICOM Chair Allen Chastanet and five months earlier Canadian officials facilitated a video link meeting between self-declared Venezuelan President Juan Guaido and CARICOM members. Alongside Peru, Canada launched the “Lima Group” of anti-Maduro countries in mid 2017 after the Organization of American States, primarily Caribbean member states, refused to criticize Venezuela.

In 2004, Ottawa played an important role in the coup that ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and thousands of other elected Haitian officials. CARICOM opposed the coup against Aristide, however, Canada continued to support the repressive foreign imposed regime of Gérard Latortue for two years. 

Ottawa has long demonstrated imperialist tendencies elsewhere in the region as well. In the 1970s and 80s, for instance, the Canadian military trained in Jamaica on a number of occasions in preparation for an intervention to protect Montréal-based Alcan’s bauxite facilities in the event of civil unrest and/or in case a socialist government took office. 

Canada’s colonial attitude dates back over a century. At the end of World War I, Ottawa asked the Imperial War Cabinet if it could take possession of the British Caribbean colonies as compensation for Canada’s defence of the empire. Ottawa ultimately did not take control of the British Caribbean partly because Canadian Prime Minister Robert Borden was concerned about “the difficulty of dealing with the coloured population, who would probably be more restless under Canadian law than under British control and would desire and perhaps insist upon representation in Parliament.”

Until the second half of the 20th century Canada maintained a racist immigration policy that excluded most Caribbean people. In recent years some Canadian politicians have floated the idea of annexing Turks and Caicos. Others have pushed for foreign tutelage of Haiti.

Canada has never apologized for its racist past towards the people of the Caribbean and to this day continues to interfere in the internal affairs of the region’s nations.

Until Canada actually takes its anti-imperialist rhetoric seriously, Canada does not deserve a two-year seat on the Security Council and I encourage all ambassadors representing Caribbean member states to vote no on June 17.

Sincerely,