Canada has for decades paid its UN dues “on time, in full, and without conditions,” unlike countries such as the US, which regularly defaults in all three aspects — see Williams, 2018. Canada very seldom misses the January deadlines for payment of its mandatory UN dues, including the peacekeeping contributions. It is 2.7% of the UN peacekeeping budget, making Canada the 9th largest contributor on the assessment scale. So Canada, under both Liberal and Conservative governments, is to be praised for this financial consistency in UN support over many decades. In addition, Canada contributed advanced helicopters to the UN mission in Mali for free, actually $1/year, while also providing some 100 personnel of the 250 at no cost to the United Nations.  In this one mission, MINUSMA in Mali, Canada was quite generous, though it is not filling the time gap between its departure and the arrival of the next contingent from Romania in 2019.

In giving extra-budgetary, voluntary funds to UN peacekeeping, Canada is a leader in the total amount, roughly $12 million per year. It supports some worthwhile projects, including the establishment of a training Joint Operations Centre or “mock JOC”, $0.5 million, in Entebbe, Uganda, to allow individuals to train on the UN’s procedures, including the  situational awareness programme called “UniteAware”, which was piloted in the MINUSCA mission but is due to be deployed in other missions.

Conclusion: Canada is continuing its positive record of financial contributions, though the vast majority of these are mandatory.

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