US embassy cable - 05OTTAWA3125

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 OTTAWA 003125 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR S/CRS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, PREL, MOPS, PTER, CA 
SUBJECT: CANADA'S EVOLVING CAPACITY FOR DISASTER RELIEF AND 
POST CONFLICT STABILIZATION 
 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED.  HANDLE ACCORDINGLY. 
 
1. (SBU) Summary: Canada's Stabilization and Reconstruction 
Task Force (START) Secretariat, a new bureau with 
responsibilities equivalent to those of S/CRS and some of the 
State Pol/Mil Bureau, began operating on September 6.  Housed 
in the International Security Branch under A/DM Jim Wright, 
it has responsibility for all civilian policy and operational 
activities related to post conflict and disaster response, 
including de-mining, SA/LW, peacebuilding, peacekeeping, 
post-conflict stabilization, and humanitarian response. The 
bureau has managed Canada's contribution to the AU force in 
Sudan, elections support in Haiti, and peacebuilding in the 
Middle East.  START personnel are interested in building 
strong linkages with U.S. and other counterparts and are 
seeking the best mechanism for prior planning among 
international partners.  End Summary 
 
START ORGANIZATION 
 
2. (SBU) On October 18 Senior Director and Deputy Head of 
Secretariat Tim Martin and three of five directors in the 
 
SIPDIS 
newly established Foreign Affairs Canada Secretariat for the 
Stabilization and Reconstruction Task Force (START) offered 
poloffs an overview of the development of Canada's response 
capability for post conflict and disaster response.  The 
Secretariat was established with impetus from the 
 
SIPDIS 
International Policy Statement in order to consolidate all 
offices that play a role in the conflict cycle.  The 
Secretariat has five units: 
 
SIPDIS 
 
-- Human Security Program Management Group (IRG): Manages 
Canada's Human Security Program and will assume 
responsibility for the Global Peace and Security Fund (GPSF) 
established by the International Policy Statement. 
-- Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding Group (IRC): 
Primarily a planning and policy shop, works with regional 
bureaus to monitor trouble spots and design future 
peacebuilding programs. 
-- Peacekeeping and Peace Operations Support Group (IRP): The 
START operational arm, responsible for inter-agency 
management of active peacekeeping missions, and implementing 
initiatives from the Sea Island Summit; and oversees the task 
force that is responsible for Sudan. 
-- Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Response Group 
(IRH/GHA): Co-managed with the Global Issues Bureau, key 
responsibilities include coordination of response to 
humanitarian crises (deployment of the DART team); provided 
the lead on the recent response to the earthquake in Pakistan 
and tsunami relief. 
-- Mine Action and Small Arms Team (ILX):  Includes landmine 
policy and combating proliferation of small arms and light 
weapons. 
 
3. (SBU) The Secretariat has both a policy and an operational 
role, supported by the GPSF (initially, C$100 million a year 
for 5 years).  Like counterparts in S/CRS Martin explained 
that the operational group (IRP) is developing ways to 
rapidly access the right government and non-governmental 
personnel to serve alongside the group's standing teams. 
There are a host of legal, labor, and bureaucratic hurdles to 
get to the right people and Martin believes this will always 
be a struggle.  There are privacy concerns with maintaining 
standing lists, for example.  But they are working through 
these issues, and recently, for example, were able to enlist 
the Ontario chief coroner to help with tsunami relief 
operations in Sri Lanka, and a senior border officer to work 
with the Palestinian National Authority. 
 
RECENT MISSIONS 
 
4. (SBU) Recent field missions coordinated by the Secretariat 
include the Darfur peace support mission for the AU force; 
security support for the Haitian elections; the civilian 
component for the Afghanistan PRT; support for the Ward team 
working border services and justice issues in the Middle 
East.  The Secretariat has a scanty budget of C$100 million 
this year, but Martin said he believes they are ready to 
"unlock the safe."  This money is going fast, with C$52 
million already committed to lease helicopters for the AU 
force in Darfur.  He added that they are often required to 
move quickly but still follow (onerous) procurement rules, 
which is a challenge. 
 
5. (SBU) The Secretariat was also responsible for the 
planning of the DART team deployment to Pakistan.  This began 
with a "3D (diplomacy, defense, and development) 
reconnaissance" to Pakistan within 24 hours of the quake, led 
by START Director General (and Ambassador for Land Mine 
policy) Ross Hynes within days of the quake, and including a 
senior representative from Defense and CIDA.  The team 
assessed the help that Canada could bring and a 
recommendation made to Cabinet that the DART be deployed. 
Martin pointed out, however, that the DART team is for the 
medium-term of a crisis; it is not a first responder. 
 
INTERNATIONAL COORDINATION 
 
6. (SBU) Martin said that Canada is interested in the right 
mechanism to coordinate its approach to post-conflict 
stabilization with other countries having similar constructs, 
e.g. the U.S., U.K, Netherlands, and possibly Norway and 
France.  He speculated that the G-8 might be one way to go, 
or alternatively establish coordinated meetings or conference 
calls.  Martin said that Canada is most interested in 
practical discussions of "real" cases that we may all be 
working in the future, rather than theory or "bureaucratics." 
 In most cases, he said, the sooner specific and joint 
planning begins the better.  Martin acknowledged that at 
present civilian planning for crisis response tends to be 
married to military planning, since DND has extensive 
planning experience and significantly more personnel devoted 
to the process.  For Afghanistan operations, for example, 
Martin said his bureau continues to depend heavily on U.S. 
CENTCOM for most of its intelligence and planning support for 
the PRT. 
 
7. (SBU) Comment: The START Secretariat has taken on a number 
of missions since its inception. Though it appears to be 
managing them capably, operationally the bureau is stretched 
thin on the personnel side.  START personnel would welcome 
increased contact with U.S. counterparts at some point, 
especially discussions about potential future missions where 
we may one day share a foxhole.  They also expressed interest 
in sharing lessons learned from recent experiences, but did 
not yet have such lessons catalogued themselves. 
 
Visit Canada's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/ottawa 
 
WILKINS