Ambassador Paul Gibbard presented his credentials to former Iraqi President Fuad Masum on October 1, 2018.
In his six weeks in Iraq, Ambassador Gibbard has visited the Kurdistan Region twice. He sat down with Rudaw’s Shaho Amin on November 9, 2018 to chat about his mission in Iraq.
Rudaw: You are Canada’s first ambassador to Iraq in 27 years. Why has Canada chosen to return to Iraq now?
Ambassador Paul Gibbard: It’s a good question. We’ve had an office here for a long time, but definitely since 2016 we’ve really ramped up our participation. And that’s really part of a broader strategy we have in the Middle East - that includes Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria. We’ve invested about $2 billion between 2016 and 2019, really in an effort to respond to the expansion of Daesh.
So here in Iraq, we’ve been playing an important role in terms of the coalition against Daesh, both on the military side and the civilian side.
So party of the civilian side that many people may not know about is that we’re providing training - police training - to officers, both on community policing and also on the role of women in policing.
We also, something new that’s been announced is the NATO mission. There’s a new NATO training mission. There’s a Canadian who will be the first commander of that mission. So we’re also thrilled to be playing an important role in that.
When you involve women you end up with a more prosperous economy 
So that’s the direct fight against Daesh. In addition to that, we’re very active on the humanitarian side - providing assistance to people in the immediate aftermath of the crisis, the stabilization side, helping to demine, providing immediate services that people need, helping communities try to knit back together again.
We’re also very active on development cooperation, and there’s a couple of important themes there that I can tell you about, if you’re interested.
It seems that you have a busy schedule and I’m going to ask about each point, one-by-one. A stated goal of your office is to advance women’s issues. Why have you chosen this issue?
That’s a great question and that leads into - when we talk about our development cooperation, most of what we do really can be summarized around two broad themes. One of them is about governance - how to make government institutions work better. And one of the areas that we’re going to talk about and where we’ve been doing some real work is decentralization and federalism. But another really important theme has to do with women.
The reason we work on issues about women, there’s three key reasons, I think, that are important. One is that when you involve women you end up with a more prosperous economy. Iraq right now has quite low levels of participation by women in the economy and there’s enormous potential there to grow the economy, to generate more wealth. So that’s one reason - you have more
We have a number of projects working at providing leadership skills to women
The second reason why I think it’s really valuable is that you end up with stronger communities. So you’ve just gone through a period of tension, a period of conflict, and to the extent that you involve women in knitting communities back together again, those communities are going to be stronger.
And the third reason is that you have a more lasting peace. And that’s not just something that I’m telling you, there’s actually been some very interesting research done. I grew up in a country called El Salvador in Central America. One of the things that they’ve done is done research on the extent to which, in very violent conflicts like El Salvador, women have been involved in the negotiations and in the process afterwards. And in each of those instances where you involve women negotiating solutions to the conflict and bringing communities together, you have a more lasting and stable peace.
But do you think, in Iraq and the way that women present themselves is helping you to conduct this program?
You’re probably better placed to answer that question than I am. What I can talk to is the areas where we’re focusing and where, if you look across countries…
So what are your focus areas?
The focus areas that we have right now, one of them is around the whole issue of women’s leadership. We’re doing training at a couple of different levels. One of the things that we’ve said consistently, whether in the national, federal parliament, or at the local level here in the Kurdish region of Iraq, is just the importance of involving women in senior leadership roles. Whether that’s as ministers, deputy ministers, and other senior executive roles, that’s a consistent message.
But not just women at the top, but also women at community level. We have a number of projects working at providing leadership skills to women. So that’s one area.
A second area has to do with economic empowerment - providing women with the tools so that they can be better entrepreneurs, so
What we’re all trying to achieve is a situation the conditions in which it’s easier to do... the work around stabilization, long-term development
And a third area where we’re working is women, peace, and security. So providing training to women police officers, working with women who are in communities trying to rebuild those ties.
You mentioned women at senior levels, but in the Iraqi cabinet, so far there are no women working as ministers. What do you think of that?
I can just say that there’s many of us in the international community that have been encouraging, as this process continues of forming the Iraqi cabinet, just underlining the importance, the value that women bring to that and to having women in senior positions.
You have been in Iraq for about six weeks and you have had the chance to see some parts of the country and you have visited Kurdistan twice. What was the aim of your frequent visits to Kurdistan?
We have a range of different things that we’re doing in the Kurdish region of Iraq. Part of it is engaging with leadership, with the different parties, understanding better the formation of government, where things are going politically. Another major important reason we’re here is to talk about development cooperation and trade.
Yesterday I met with your Minister for Planning and Trade - whose name just escaped me. Minister Sindi, pardon me.
Doctor Ali Sindi.
Exactly. So I met with Dr. Sindi to discuss the ways in which we’re working together right now on some of these issues and the opportunities for growing the relationship.
What’s your perception of the status of women in the country, particularly in Kurdistan? You mentioned before, but I want to know what’s your plan for the women in Kurdistan.
So, the three areas where I mentioned where we’re focused gives you a sense of our own priorities, where we think that we can be most effective and where we may be able to help and areas where there may be need. So the issue of women’s leadership, the issue of women’s economic empowerment, and the issue of women peace and security. I’ve certainly noticed that here in the Kurdish region of Iraq you have, I think it’s 30 percent of the parliament is women.
Yes.
You also have some real movement in terms of legislation on violence against women. These are issues that obviously have engaged Kurdish society. You also have the high council -
But on the other hand, there are many women who have been freed from the hands of ISIS, particularly women from Shingal. Do you have any program for them?
We do. We have a number of different programs. So we’re working at the level, what we call stabilization - I guess there’s two levels. There’s the humanitarian side, right. Responding immediately when you’ve got, with those communities immediately after - in some cases it’s people fleeing those communities and in some cases it’s communities that are trying to rebuild. So have the humanitarian
There is a lot of interest in our experience with decentralization and with federalism
We’ve also had, as you’re probably aware, a program to help the Yezidis. So there is a real interest there.
Good. Canada has taken the helm of NATO’s new training mission in Iraq. What do Canada and NATO want to achieve, especially considering the movements of ISIS are increasing at the moment?
Right. So we’re providing the first commander for this NATO mission. I can’t speak on behalf of NATO. We are a very active participant in the mission, we’re providing lots of Canadian troops to it. But just to be clear, I can’t speak on behalf of NATO.
Speak on behalf of your country.
We’re part of a group of people thinking about that mission. More generally, I think that what we’re all trying to achieve is a situation the conditions in which it’s easier to do, and it’s what we can do, the work around stabilization, long-term development, addressing these kinds of issues around governance, around women’s empowerment, gender equality.
And the training - I wonder if the Peshmerga will be included in the training?
We have always, the Canadian Armed Forces operating here as part of the coalition, we have always operated under the umbrella of the Iraqi Security Forces. And so, in the past there’s been some excellent cooperation, I think, within that coalition, with the Peshmerga and other elements of the Iraqi Security Forces. And I think we’re optimistic that that will continue.
Could you tell me your plan regarding training Peshmerga in Kurdistan?
As I said, we operate here under that broad umbrella of the Iraqi Security Forces. There’s been some great cooperation in the past and we’re hopeful that that cooperation between the Peshmerga and other elements of the Iraqi Security Forces will continue.
When the Kurdistan Region held its referendum last year for independence, Justin Trudeau declined to comment, saying it was an internal matter and he was comparing the experience with Quebec and Canada. Kurds of course appreciated this statement very much. Have you been asked by either Baghdad or Erbil about separatism or federal government in Iraq?
At the same time that the prime minister made that statement, we have always consistently said that we are firmly behind a united Iraq. And you can tell from the comments I’ve made before, we also hope that’s an Iraq that’s strong, that’s safe, secure, that’s diverse and inclusive. There is a lot of interest in our own experience with federalism, and that’s really what the focus has been - ‘how
One of the reasons I’m here is because we want to increase our engagement with Iraq
Can you give me some specific examples?
We have a great project with an organization called the Institute on Governance. It’s doing different things in different parts of the country. I recently visited - I was down in Karbala earlier this week and there’s a centre of excellence there and what they’re doing is they’re bringing together officials at the provincial level, at the regional level, with officials at the federal level. So they get to sit down, they have fun doing some training together for a day or two. They go off and then they try to work on the concrete issues of how do you decentralize education, how do you decentralize health services. So they do that for a few weeks. They come back again, they talk about those experiences, do a little bit more training, and then they go off again and try and make it work even better. So it’s that kind of process of making it work in a really practical kind of way. That’s, I think, a good example.
In the last few years, and since its establishment, the Iraqi government couldn’t be strong enough. Particularly their relations with Kurdistan were going through a bad experience. So what’s the definition of strong government now if Kurds are still suffering from lack of budget and Peshmerga haven’t been supported by the Iraqi government, recently?
You mentioned what Prime Minister Trudeau said, earlier. And he made a really good point that we each have internal dynamics in our countries that, in each case, we’re better placed to understand and to evaluate and to try to deal with. So we can share what our
This is a country that we’re committed to
Do you see the areas where the Canadian government can help relations between the federal government and the KRG?
These projects where we’re working on governance and exploring how do you make that relationship work as well as you can, those are perhaps ways in which we might help. We don’t have a perfect system. We have certain experiences and certain things that have worked well in our particular context. And so we’re happy to share what we’ve learned, what we maybe do better, but we’re happy to share those experiences and that’s really what we’re trying to do.
But are there specific areas of contact between Erbil and Baghdad that Canada could help or work on?
This is something really that’s a dynamic within Iraq. My understanding, and you’re probably better placed than I am to understand where that’s going, but there are certain areas where there is a decentralization process going forward. And so those are areas where we’ve been asked to provide some help and some thoughts. We’re happy to do that. And you’re better placed to decide what part of our own experience might be useful to you and what you find of most value.
Do you and does your government see a bright future for relationships between Erbil and Baghdad?
We’re always optimistic, right? This is a country that we’re committed to. The reason that I’m here, I talked a bit at the start about this Middle East strategy and part of that Middle East strategy is greater diplomatic engagement. So one of the reasons I’m here is
You have a beautiful, beautiful country
Many Kurds are eager to engage with Canada, whether getting work or visas, or whatever. And you have a reputation internationally for helping refugees, for accepting refugees. Do you have a plan to have an office with a visa section in Kurdistan?
As a general policy, and you’re absolutely right, our country really has been built on the contributions of people from all over the world, not to forget of course the indigenous peoples who were there before the rest of us arrived. It’s an experiment in how to bring all of those peoples together and to make that work. And so we’re very welcoming. We’re delighted to have people come from all countries of the world.
Let’s specifically talk about Kurdistan.
We do have a programme - Come to Canada - it’s available to everybody. I encourage people to go to the website. The website sort of describes what are some of the different options and certainly people can take a look at and see if they qualify for. It’s actually quite helpful. It has different bits and pieces of it that help you think that through.
You mention this attracting people, Come to Canada. So go to Canada for what? On basis of work, refugee, asylum-seekers?
There’s a number of different criteria in terms of people who are emigrating to Canada, who want to go there as an immigrant. There are, there’s a different process for people who are going as refugees. We usually work through agencies who are identifying people outside of their countries of origin who are in need of help.
What does your office do in Erbil?
I’m glad you mentioned our office here in Erbil because we have a really dynamic, wonderful head of office Nancy Bergeron, that is here actually with us in the studio. We’re just delighted to have her as head of our office here. And so she and the office here in Erbil are working on a number of different things, whether it’s the trade side of the relationship, development cooperation, engaging with government, with civil society, a range of different activities.
Why it’s an office, not a consulate in Erbil?
It’s a technical thing in our system. It depends on what series of services we provide. So we provide some services out of other missions in the region, and it’s just a question of what’s the range of services that we can provide.
Are you hoping to expand this office in Erbil to a consulate?
We’ve actually seen through - both in Baghdad and in Erbil - really, really rapid growth in the last two years. So we’ve gone from one Canadian, I think, and two or three locally engaged staff, we now have six Canadians in Baghdad, we have two Canadians in Erbil, we have another six locally engaged staff here in Erbil and we have another eight in Baghdad. So the growth has been quite significant. We’re always looking for opportunities, we’re always looking for other possibilities, we’ll have to see.
On a personal note, I know you have been here for a short time, but what’s your impression of Iraq and Kurdistan?
In my two visits here, I’ve had a really, really good time. The last time I was here, I was able to take that drive from Erbil to Sulaimani, and you have a beautiful, beautiful country. I’m really looking forward to being here on a regular basis. I’m planning a trip in the Region, up to Duhok in the next few weeks. I hope to be here and I plan to be here on a very regular basis. And as I said, you have a great resource here with our head of office.
