CANADA announced on Thursday that it will send naval vessels to Haiti for intelligence gathering as part of efforts against worsening gang violence in the Caribbean nation.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the announcement in the Bahamas at the annual meeting of Caribbean leaders, where a key topic has been Haiti’s surge in killings, rapes and kidnappings.

Gangs on the island are blamed for the criminality which has surged since the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise.

Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry, also at the meeting, has pleaded for a fully fledged foreign military intervention, which his country requested from the United Nations security council in October.

Though Mr Henry called on the United States and Canada to lead the force, no such intervention has yet taken place.

Canada’s move to send ships, announced at the meeting of leaders of the 15-member Caricom trade bloc, comes shortly after the return of one of its surveillance planes on a similar mission to collect intelligence for Haitian police.

Mr Trudeau said: “Right now, Haiti is confronted with unrelenting gang violence, political turmoil and corruption.

“Now is the moment to come together to confront the severity of this situation.”

Mr Trudeau also unveiled sanctions on two additional Haitians: former interim president Jocelerme Privert and ex-political aide Salim Succar, banning them from making any economic dealings in Canada because of alleged ties to gangs.

The Canadian leader said his government would give an additional $12.3 million (£7.6m) in humanitarian assistance and $10 million (£6m) to support the International Office on Migration, to protect Haitian women and children along Haiti’s border with the Dominican Republic. 

The neighbouring country has deported tens of thousands of Haitian migrants and those of Haitian ancestry in the past year.

The number of reported killings in Haiti last year increased by 35 per cent to 2,183 victims, while the number of reported kidnappings more than doubled to 1,359, according to the UN.

A report last month from the UN integrated office in Haiti noted that “gang-related violence reached levels not seen in decades,” and that tens of thousands of people have been displaced by the warring gangs.

Gangs control an estimated 60 per cent of the capital Port-au-Prince.