Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly arrives to a caucus meeting on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Nov. 6.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Canada will expand its diplomatic presence in Africa and appoint two special envoys to work on peace and security issues in a continent where conflicts and great-power tensions are intensifying, federal ministers say.
Ottawa will create full embassies in Zambia and Benin, where it previously had offices without embassy status, and will appoint special envoys for Africa and for the war-torn Sahel region, the ministers announced on Thursday.
The moves are the “some of the first deliverables” in a planned new Africa strategy the government is planning to unveil in the coming months, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly told journalists on the sidelines of a meeting with African Union leaders in Toronto.
“We know that we’re now in a global security crisis – there are geopolitical tensions, with great power competition – and it is happening in Africa, so we want to be able to strengthen our partnership, and we want to be a reliable partner, a sincere partner, at the table,” she said.
The announcement came on the same day a House of Commons committee warned the country was falling behind other countries in its Africa policies.
“To ensure it is not left behind by the economic and political shifts that are underway, Canada will need to bring structural coherence to its Africa policy,” the foreign affairs committee said after seven months of study of Canada-Africa relations.
“The committee is aware that other states have already taken these steps, and that Canada is seeking to redefine the terms of its engagement in a highly competitive environment,” the committee’s report said.
It cited Russia and China, along with middle powers such as Turkey and the Gulf states, as among the rivals that are creating a tougher environment for Canada to compete with in Africa.
Canada’s decision to appoint two new special envoys for Africa and the Sahel – who have not been recruited yet – is a signal that the government “will be showing Africans how much we believe in the work they’re doing, and how strong our relationship is,” Ms. Joly said in her announcement.
Canada will also create a “diaspora engagement mechanism” to gather regular advice from the 1.3 million Canadians who trace their roots to Africa, she said.
Joly heads to Africa as Canada revives a long-stalled strategy
International Trade Minister Mary Ng said Canada will boost its economic links to Africa by creating a new African Trade Hub within the government and by launching a large-scale minister-led trade mission to Africa. The government is also negotiating an air-transport agreement with Ghana, and it will ratify an already-existing air transport agreement with Nigeria that could lead to direct flights between Canada and Nigeria, she said.
Edward Ansah Akuffo, a political scientist at the University of the Fraser Valley who has studied Canada’s policies toward Africa, said the federal announcements are “relatively bold steps” to make Canada a bigger player in Africa. For the first time in two decades, the country “appears to be listening to the need to re-engage Africa,” he said.
But it is too early to celebrate, since the announcements are reminiscent of initiatives in the early 2000s that were later allowed to wither away, he said.
Chris Roberts, an Africa expert at the University of Calgary, said the announcements are welcome, including their focus on trade and investment. He also praised the creation of the special envoys and the upgrade of the diplomatic missions in Zambia and Benin. “Overall, there are signs of a rehabilitated partnership,” he said.
But he said some key issues were omitted from the federal announcements, including Canada’s potential role in the energy and mining sectors in Africa, and the need for easing bureaucratic barriers for Africans who seek entry visas.