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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 OTTAWA 000653 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR S/CRS AND WHA/CAN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL EAID PINS KDEM KJUS MCAP PGOV CA
SUBJECT: CANADA'S POST-CONFLICT STABILIZATION AND 
RECONSTRUCTION CAPABILITY 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: Canada's "Stabilization and Reconstruction 
Task Force" (START) has become a key component of its foreign 
affairs architecture.  Its Ottawa headquarters works on 
policy formulation, while inter-agency teams now operate in 
Haiti, Uganda, Colombia, and Kandahar -- and soon also in 
Islamabad -- on missions including de-mining, training of 
police and peacekeepers, support to multilateral 
peace-enforcement missions, and governance capacity-building. 
 START's staff greatly values close consultations with its 
U.S. counterpart and expressed particular interest in an 
on-going dialogue on policy development for intervention 
thresholds in failed and fragile states, new approaches to 
training for field officers, and the justice rapid response 
concept, as well as discussions of specific countries where 
we are both working.  End Summary. 
 
START FINDS ITS FOOTING 
----------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Now well into its third year of operations, the 
Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade's START 
has established itself as an important component in Canada's 
foreign affairs architecture and deployment.  It brings a 
coordinated approach to managing Canada's participation in 
reconstruction and stabilization activities worldwide. 
START's twin objectives remain a mix of policy formulation 
and operations: 
 
-- to ensure timely, coordinated, and effective policy 
strategies and operational responses by Canada to natural and 
human-made crises that require whole-of-government action; 
and, 
 
-- to plan and deliver coherent and effective conflict 
prevention, crisis response, and stabilization initiatives in 
fragile states and states in transition in which Canada has 
humanitarian or political interests. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Contrary to earlier doubts that START could survive 
bureaucratic re-alignments at DFAIT under the "new" 
Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper 
since 2006, START officials now express confidence that 
policy-makers recognize that START has more than proven its 
worth and is indeed an increasingly valuable resource.  They 
admit, however, START continues to struggle with funding, 
personnel, and its place in the bureaucracy (laments fairly 
common throughout DFAIT). 
 
¶4. (SBU) In April, however, the Treasury Board completed a 
review of START operations and blessed a transformation to 
multi-year funding, which should help to increase START's 
future viability and enhance its ability to plan.  Its 
current funding is part of a larger "Global Peace and 
Security Fund" (GPSF), which also underwrites a "Global Peace 
and Security Program," a "Global Peace Operations Program," 
and a "Glyn Berry Program" (named for the Canadian diplomat 
killed in Afghanistan in 2006) to support START field 
operations, peace operations, some related G-8 commitments, 
and democratization.  Current funding for START is C$135 
million (approximately equivalent in USD), of which C$35 
million goes to programs in Afghanistan, but START's share of 
the pie could more than double in coming years. 
 
¶5. (SBU) START currently has 73 members in its Ottawa 
Q5. (SBU) START currently has 73 members in its Ottawa 
headquarters at DFAIT, as well as officers in Haiti, Uganda, 
Colombia, and Kandahar.  Canada does not have an equivalent 
to the USG's Active Response Corps, however, so it either 
sends its Ottawa-based DFAIT officers on assignment (Haiti, 
Uganda, Afghanistan, and -- soon -- Islamabad), directly 
hires individuals for a specific task (Colombia), or pays for 
secondments from other agencies (many of the positions in 
Kandahar).  START has developed a roster of DFAIT officers 
who have post-conflict reconstruction skills and may be 
interested in field deployment, but START has no system for 
directly recruiting those officers, other than an appeal for 
volunteers. 
 
¶6. (SBU) START has now developed several coordination models 
 
OTTAWA 00000653  002 OF 003 
 
 
for its work in the field: 
 
-- START can act as a catalyst or convenor, taking the lead 
in bringing together all relevant geographic and functional 
partners within DFAIT and throughout the Canadian government 
to work on the development of the fragile states analytical 
framework; 
-- START can co-lead crisis management efforts with 
geographic counterparts, as in the case for most natural 
disasters and in Haiti and Sudan, providing leadership 
drawing on experience across emergencies and peace 
operations, while DFAIT's regional bureaus provide expertise 
and vision regarding Canada's long-term bilateral 
relationship and links to various ethnic Diaspora in Canada; 
-- START can provide targeted policy and program support 
under the leadership of a country-specific DFAIT division, as 
in the case of Afghanistan; 
--  START can work with DFAIT's Consular Affairs bureau to 
respond to unique emergency situations, such as the 2006 
Lebanon evacuation, a complex operation that involved 
intelligence, coordination with military units, and 
large-scale resource allocations. 
 
FOCUS ON AFGHANISTAN 
-------------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) With Afghanistan as Canada's number one foreign 
policy priority, START provides funding to the Royal Canadian 
Mounted Police to run a police training program in Kandahar, 
while directly running a justice and corrections initiative. 
START has also been very involved in Canada's G-8 initiative 
to improve border control along the Afghan-Pakistani frontier 
(which DFAIT's South Asia Division had initially run; it 
continues to manage the G-8 diplomatic offensive), in close 
coordination with our own Border Management Task Force in 
Kabul.  START is taking on some of the programmatic aspects 
of this initiative, such as placing dog teams and scanners in 
Spin Boldak and other southern border posts.  It will soon 
put an officer in Islamabad to help coordinate projects with 
Pakistan.  Separately, the Canadian International Development 
Agency (CIDA) funds and runs more conventional programs on 
health, education, and infrastructure.  Initially uneasy 
competition between CIDA and START in Afghanistan (and 
elsewhere) have now evolved into a recognition of a genuine 
complementarity in their respective foci, according to START 
officials. 
 
OTHER ACTIVITIES 
---------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) Other START projects over the past year have 
included: 
 
-- refurbishing the Sarpoza Prison and training correctional 
personnel in Afghanistan; 
-- sending police advisors and building an infrastructure to 
improve the Haitian National Police Inspector General's 
office; 
-- programs to improve Haiti's ability to combat human 
trafficking; 
-- support for the integrated community-based landmine risk 
education and victim assistance program in Uganda; 
-- initial funding and technical advice for e-learning for 
African peacekeepers from 50 African countries; 
-- providing helicopters, planes, aviation support fuel, and 
technical advisors in support of the AU mission in Darfur; 
and, 
-- coordinating Canada's assistance to Peru in the wake of 
Q-- coordinating Canada's assistance to Peru in the wake of 
the August 2007 earthquake. 
 
AREAS FOR FURTHER COLLABORATION 
------------------------------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) On the issue of post-conflict reconstruction, Canada 
recognizes explicit benefits from showing that its 
development of infrastructure and policies builds on the 
experiences of key partners.  START officials cite to the 
Treasury Board Canada's close collaboration with like-minded 
 
OTTAWA 00000653  003 OF 003 
 
 
allies as an effective argument for increased funding.  START 
officials have expressed interest in closer coordination -- 
bilaterally, trilaterally also with Great Britain, and/or on 
a G-8 basis on: 
 
-- policy development and early warning systems on failed and 
fragile states; 
 
-- sharing "best practices" on training, notably the U.S. 
training model for pre-deployment of post-conflict 
reconstruction personnel; 
 
-- Justice Rapid Response; 
 
-- further country specific work, such as on Haiti and Sudan; 
 
-- "lessons learned" based on U.S. analyses of the 
architecture for post-conflict reconstruction, e.g. a PRT 
playbook developed by the U.S. Army Center for Lessons 
Learned. 
 
Visit Canada,s Economy and Environment Forum at 
http://www.intelink.gov/communities/state/can ada 
 
WILKINS