Canadian police helping women lead in peace missions

There is a gap between committing to change and actually making it happen. In March 2024, Canada launched its third National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security. This is a clear roadmap for getting more women into leadership roles in peace and security missions abroad.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is one of the institutions doing this work on the ground.

In Zambia and Ukraine, Canadian officers are training women for senior roles. They stay long enough to make a real difference. And to make that difference last.

The Elsie Initiative in Zambia

In fall 2024, three RCMP instructors travelled to Zambia to deliver a leadership training course to 27 women officers from the Zambia Police Service.

This work is part of the Elsie Initiative. This Canadian-led project’s goal is straightforward: give these officers the skills and confidence to move into senior roles inside their own institution and in future United Nations missions.

Women are still significantly underrepresented in international peacekeeping leadership. That does not change on its own. It changes because someone shows up and makes sure the next cohort is better positioned than the last. Through the Elsie Initiative for Women in Peace Operations, Canada has been that someone.

Inspector Schmidt, on the front lines of change

Inspector Blayr Schmidt is a prime example of this leadership. She did not arrive in Ukraine for a quiet posting. She took command of the Canadian Police Mission there in the middle of a war. She is the first woman to ever hold that role.

She immediately got to work. She met with Ukrainian civil society groups fighting to keep women's rights on the agenda during the invasion. She pushed for equal access to training inside the National Police of Ukraine. She joined the Ukrainian Association of Women in Law Enforcement (UAWLE) and championed it amongst all members of her team, male and female alike. She collaborated with Coalition 1325, a network of organizations working to implement a UN resolution. 

By 2024, women made up 40 percent of law enforcement training candidates supported by the Canadian mission. That number is a direct result of sustained, deliberate effort — hers and others.

A global shift

At the time, Inspector Schmidt was one of three Canadian women leading RCMP missions abroad, in Ukraine, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research.

That is not a coincidence. It is what serious commitment looks like when it is being carried out by people willing to do the unglamorous work of changing institutions from the inside. The plan will run to 2029.

The work to build a safer, more inclusive world continues.