November 22, 2017: On November 15, Justin Trudeau announced that Canada will launch the Elsie Initiative on Women in Peace Operations. Canada will work with the UN and interested member states to develop innovative approaches to overcome the barriers to women’s meaningful participation in peace operations. Canada will pilot these approaches with a small number of countries that share Canada’s ambition.

The Elsie Initiative is named after Canadian women’s rights pioneer Elsie MacGill (1905-1980). Born in Vancouver, Ms. MacGill graduated from the University of Toronto in 1927 and became the first Canadian woman to receive a degree in electrical engineering.

The Elsie Initiative will:

• Support the development of a systematic approach to deploy more women in peace operations.
• Design tailored technical assistance support for countries that contribute peacekeepers to ensure the right conditions are in place for the deployment of women.
• Provide assistance to designated UN missions to improve their ability to support and benefit from women’s increased participation in peace operations. Canada will provide $6 million toward this goal.
• Launch a global fund to support the deployment of women peacekeepers. Canada will provide $15 million to establish this fund.
• Monitor and evaluate so the Elsie Initiative can be adjusted as needed and help build a solid base of evidence for the development of a more comprehensive approach that could be fully integrated within the UN peacekeeping system.

Read more: The Elsie Initiative on Peace Operations (Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, https://pm.gc.ca)