Lately, the Canadian government is all about investing in Jamaica. Defence Minister Peter MacKay was here last week to cut the ribbon on a new maritime safety training centre. Canada will also work more closely with Jamaica to establish this Caribbean country as a hub from which to launch security efforts for the Latin American/ Caribbean area. The Gleaner is lukewarm on the initiative, lauding the partnership’s security aspect, but indicating its skepticism about the potentially negative aspects. Jamaica could become proxy target for terrorists and could also become more involved in the drug trade. From the editorial:

Further, the Caribbean is not immune to other forms of terrorism and could well become proxy victim for our friends and partners, including the United States, Britain and other Western nations, against whom others hold grudges, mostly of dubious merit.

Indeed, there are billions of dollars of US, Canadian and British investment in the Caribbean and millions of their citizens live and/or holiday in the region, where the terrorists may deem them to be soft targets.

While we would expect to get help from our global partners in the face of such crises, domestic forces would have to be the first respondents to the threats, especially with regard to locally inspired problems. However, neither Jamaica nor any partner in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has the resources, in terms of personnel or equipment, to effectively defend themselves.We know that these matters are on the agenda and that there exist programmes of regional security cooperation. But perhaps it is time for a security protocol, inclusive of a standing-response arrangement, to be enshrined in the CARICOM treaty to better and formally leverage the resources of member states. The Canadians are good partners to help CARICOM advance this. Canada is not perceived to carry the baggage of some of our other friends.