By Canadian Press

Angelina Jolie expected to give keynote address at Vancouver peacekeeping summit

Nov 8, 2017 | 9:25 AM

OTTAWA — Academy Award-winning actress Angelina Jolie is expected to lend her star power to next week’s peacekeeping summit in Vancouver.

A draft program for the two-day meeting leaked to The Canadian Press says Jolie will deliver a keynote address at the event, appearing as a special envoy of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and co-founder of the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative.

The topic of Jolie’s Nov. 15 address is not listed, but the Liberal government has pushed for the summit to include discussions on increasing gender equality in peacekeeping and ending sexual abuse by peacekeepers.

The other keynote address will be delivered by Patrick Shanahan, the U.S. deputy secretary of defence.

Representatives from 80 countries, including approximately 50 defence ministers, are expected to attend the summit, which kicks off Nov. 14 with several smaller events.

Sources say the government has been in talks with UN officials about where to send Canadian peacekeepers; options include sending helicopters to Mali and Haiti, a transport plane to Uganda and troops to the Golan Heights.

An announcement is expected in the days leading up to the summit, if not in Vancouver itself.

The Canadian Press