Royal Canadian Navy vessels will be deployed off the coast of Haiti in the coming weeks, said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday, amid the island’s humanitarian and security crisis.

“We are working closely together to help,” at a conference in the Bahamas for the Caribbean bloc, Trudeau said in a speech.

The main goal is to conduct surveillance alongside Canadian aircraft deployed last month. He later said, the vessels will not be used to intercept Haitian migrants.

Bringing Canada’s total to 17 sanctioned people, Trudeau also announced sanctions on two unnamed Haitian individuals for gang involvement.

The U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced later on Thursday, the United States would impose visa restrictions on 12 crime-related people in Haiti.

Thousands of Haitians were displaced, and hundreds were left dead as gang violence escalates. Later last year, Cholera also re-emerged.

In October, the United Nations suggested a “rapid action force” to be sent to help the national police fight the armed gangs. The gangs have grown since the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise.

It was found in a survey done in January that seven in ten Haitians support the proposed force, though abuses from past missions and support for the administration of Prime Minister Ariel Henry have fueled some skepticism.

An open letter was signed by more than 40 civil society representatives on Tuesday rejecting any draft resolution backing Henry’s administration and demanding reparations be given to the families of those killed in a U.N.-linked outbreak of cholera a decade ago.

People reacted with skepticism, on Twitter, over how the deployment of Canadian ships would help the crisis.

source: reuters.com