Trudeau deploys navy ships to Haiti amid gang violence

Trudeau told media while in the Bahamas that the increase in crime in Haiti including rapes and kidnappings were on Canada's radar. Trudeau made the comments following the annual meeting of Carribean leaders, according to The Hill.

Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry pledged a full-on international military intervention to help curb the country's increased violent crime since the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise. Henry has requested help from the UN and suggested that the US and Canada help take on the problem head-on. Neither country has stepped up to take charge.

"Canada is elbows deep in terms of trying to help The best thing we can do to help enable the Haitian leadership and the patient people themselves to be driving their pathway out of this crisis," Trudeau said, reports Politico.

"Right now, Haiti is confronted with unrelenting gang violence, political turmoil and corruption," Trudeau added. "Now is the moment to come together to confront the severity of this situation."

Trudeau said that the deployment of Canadian navy vessels will help deter gangs from using waterways as "an extra sphere of influence."

"They are there to assist the Haitian National Police in their efforts to control the gang activity in Port-au-Prince and along the coast," he said.

Canada will provide Haiti with $12.3 million in humanitarian assistance, and $10 million for the International Office on Migration.