Canada was absent from a list of founding “Board of Peace” members at a ceremony led by U.S. President Donald Trump Thursday in Davos, Switzerland.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has indicated that Canada agreed “in principle” to join the board, meant to oversee the body “redeveloping” Gaza after its devastating conflict with Israel, but his office has said there remain “details” to be worked out before the country formally joins.
Ottawa’s hesitance comes as western European nations – including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Spain – have expressed skepticism about the board, which will be chaired by Trump and reserves spots for several autocratic world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarus’s Aleksandr Lukashenko.
Carney said Tuesday that Canada has concerns about the “governance and the decision-making process” of the board’s structure as set out by the U.S.
The Prime Minister’s Office has not responded to specific questions about the Board of Peace this week, including whether Putin’s potential participation – or the possible membership of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – has changed Carney’s thinking about Canada’s membership.
The PMO did not immediately respond when asked when Canada will make its decision on Board of Peace membership.
Get daily National news
Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
In his signing ceremony Thursday, Trump welcomed founding board members, including Egypt, Hungary, Jordan, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey.
“This isn’t the United States, this is for the world,” Trump said, “I think we can spread it out to other things as we succeed in Gaza.”
That’s one of the main criticisms of the Board of Peace – that it could be seen as a rival body to the United Nations and its powerful Security Council if Trump attempts to extend it from Gaza to other world conflicts.
Trump has fed those criticisms with his musings in the past, but said on the sidelines of Davos that the board will work “in conjunction” with the UN.
“I think this is a real case of ‘buyer beware.’ It’s not clear what you’re buying into,” said Fen Hampson, an international relations professor at Carleton University.
“It’s gone from being a development plan for Gaza to something far more ambitious, with global ambitions … and that makes Ottawa very nervous, because nobody in Ottawa wants to gut the UN.”
Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, unveiled U.S. plans for the redevelopment of Gaza at Davos Thursday that included rebuilt cities and “coastal tourism” opportunities, according to a report in the Jerusalem Post. The multi-phase plan would require US$25 billion to rebuild the Palestinian enclave in the Americans’ vision.
The U.S. has also suggested that countries can pay US$1 billion to obtain a permanent seat on the board, but Canadian officials said the country has not been asked to pay. It’s not clear at this point what that money would be used for, but Carney has said that Canada will support payments and in-kind contributions to help the Palestinian people.
— with a file from The Associated Press.
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.