Sajjan to mark Peacekeepers Day at UN

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan will be in United Nations next week to help commemorate those peacekeepers who have been killed in the line of duty.

The minister is scheduled to travel to New York next Wednesday, where he will participate in the UN’s annual ceremony for honouring the more than 3,500 blue helmets who have been killed since 1948. The International Day for UN Peacekeepers is May 29, but that falls on Memorial Day in the U.S. this year, so the world body is remembering its fallen peacekeepers the week before.

Sajjan will also preside over a luncheon to launch Canada’s hosting of a major peacekeeping summit in Vancouver this coming November, and meet with the new head of UN peacekeeping, Jean-Pierre Lacroix. The UN has been waiting months for Canada to announce such a decision, after the Liberals promised last August to provide up to 600 troops to a future, unspecified peacekeeping mission.