Pearson Peacekeeping Centre
(http://www.peaceoperations.org)

The Pearson Peacekeeping Centre was established at the request of the Government of Canada in 1994. The Centre was named in honour of Lester B. Pearson, former Prime Minister of Canada, who, as Minister of External Affairs, was the recipient of the 1957 Nobel Peace Prize. He received this in recognition of the role he played in the establishment of the United Nations Emergency Force, the first modern peacekeeping operation.
The increasing demands of conflict prevention and resolution, and the growing scope of Canada’s involvement in all aspects of peace operations required the creation of a focal point for education, training, and research activities. The teaching environment needed to be multidisciplinary and international, providing a location where persons from different professional, cultural, and national backgrounds could learn together. This diversity reflected actual field conditions.
The Canadian Institute of Strategic Studies (CISS) was invited by the Canadian government to establish an independent centre using facilities of the recently closed Canadian Forces Base Cornwallis. The Centre was officially opened on 24 April 1995.
In 1999, the Centre opened a project office in Montréal to better serve the national and international Francophone community. In 2001, the PPC severed its ties with the CISS and was designated as an independent, not-for-profit organization in its own right. Having long recognized a need for a presence in the National Capital Region, the PPC opened its Ottawa Liaison Office on the campus of Carleton University in November 2003.
At the present time, the PPC operates from three locations, maintaining administrative and finance offices at Cornwallis. Cornwallis is also the venue for residential courses conducted in Canada and for simulation exercises conducted for various major military headquarters. The majority of the Centre’s formal course offerings are now conducted abroad in Africa, Eastern Europe, and Latin America.

As part of its capacity building it has supported the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre in Accra, Ghana (http://www.kaiptc.org) since its creation in 2000. A 2-week course, which is being delivered in conjunction with staff of the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre of Canada, has been developed over the past 6 years in conjunction with the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations. The KAIPTC DDR course has been specifically adapted for the West African sub-region. The aim of the course is to enhance regional peacekeeping capacity by providing those attending the course with a thorough understanding of the principles and procedures involved in the planning, co-ordination and conduct of DDR. DDR is examined from the civilian, military and police perspectives.