Currently, about 1,000 Canadian Armed Forces members serve in Latvia as part of a battle group that was created in 2017 to deter Russian wrath in the area.

Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that he is committing to providing $2.6 billion in funding over three years to a NATO mission in Latvia. He also promised to add an additional 1,200 CAF members to the multinational battlegroup. This more than doubles the size of Canada’s NATO deployment in the Baltic country. Trudeau says the additional personnel with reinforce and enhance the land, air, and maritime capabilities and support special operations in central and eastern Europe. Not all of the troops will deploy immediately, and it could take up to three years for the plan to come to fruition entirely.

He says this is part of a $2.6 billion investment, which was also announced today, that will include the purchase of critical weapon systems, as well as cyber warfare assistance.
One point four billion dollars of that amount was announced in the 2022 federal budget. The funding announcement was made today in Latvia’s capital, where Canada and Latvia signed a so-called roadmap for creating the NATO brigade. Trudeau concluded that this is Canada’s largest overseas mission.