Canada's peacekeeping legacy fades away
Military says it's keeping deployments 'relevant' as critics see abandoned heritage
asserted
critics → fade → heritage
The Department of National Defence calls it "rebalancing" but others believe we are witnessing the death of Canada's contribution to peacekeeping with the winding down of a series of long-standing overseas missions.
asserted
we → call → missions
The country has — for years — contributed only a handful of soldiers to United Nations-sanctioned missions around the world.
asserted
country → contribute → world
But in mid-July, late on a Friday, the department quietly announced it was closing four missions and reducing its commitment to a fifth non-UN force in Egypt.
asserted
it → announce → Egypt
Up to 60 military members were assigned to the peacekeeping forces, a sharp drop from 1993 when almost 4,000 Canadians served with various UN forces, most of them at the time in the former Yugoslavia.
asserted
Canadians → assign → Yugoslavia
The department said the closing of operations KOBOLD (Kosovo), SNOWGOOSE (Cyprus), SOPRANO (South Sudan) and CROCODILE (Democratic Republic of Congo) and the reduction to Operation CALUMET (Sinai) will take place over the next two years.
-
asserted
closing → say → years
It’ll be over trust
Canada remains anti-nuke, but its potential path to the bomb is getting shorter
Canada urges U.K. to join new global bank for defence projects
The decision was made to "better align CAF resources with current defence priorities," which include the NATO deterrence mission in Latvia and possible future missions in the Indo-Pacific region, the department said in a statement.
asserted
department → remain → statement
"This approach focuses personnel and capabilities where they have the greatest impact, while sustaining commitments, maintaining readiness for emerging challenges and enhancing operational effectiveness with allies and partners."
asserted
they → focus → allies
In the case of the deployment to Cyprus, Canadian troops first set foot on the Mediterranean island in March 1964 and military expert Walter Dorn said closing down the mission is the end of an era.
asserted
closing → set → era
"This looks like the death of Canada's contribution because it's very hard to revive once you've closed out a mission," Dorn said, suggesting that an important part of modern Canadian heritage was being allowed to wither and die.
"
asserted
part → look → heritage
It is something that we are uniquely qualified to do as opposed to the United States.
asserted
we → do → States
It's a major role for middle powers in the world where the great powers are having their competition.
asserted
powers → have → competition
They don't have the colonial baggage."
asserted
They → have → baggage
Military says troops will be ready and relevant
asserted
troops → say → ?
In his now famous speech to the World Economic Forum last January, Prime Minister Mark Carney urged middle powers to co-operate more closely in a globe that is being divided by great powers.
asserted
that → urge → powers
Dorn said peacekeeping was a perfect vehicle to help implement Carney's vision because international values are being backed up by "boots on the ground."
asserted
values → say → ground
Peggy Mason, president of the Ottawa-based Rideau Institute, said the decision is a major mistake.
asserted
decision → base → Institute
"This is very bad news indeed and shockingly tone deaf when it comes to the increasingly empty Davos promise of Canadian leadership when it matters," said Mason, who served as Canada's ambassador for disarmament from 1989 to 1995.
asserted
who → come → 1995
When the decision was announced, the country's top military commander said Canadian troops made lasting contributions to peace and stability through peacekeeping missions over many years.
asserted
troops → announce → years
Gen. Jennie Carignan, the chief of the defence staff, said rebalancing the missions is meant to keep the force "ready, relevant and positioned to meet current and future operational demands.”
asserted
force → say → demands
But Dorn said he doesn't buy the notion that the Canadian military can't spare the troops in a time when recruiting has turned a corner and the Defence Department is receiving billions of dollars in new funding.
asserted
Department → say → funding
In total, more than 125,000 members of the Canadian military served in dozens of peacekeeping and peace support missions, alongside more than 4,000 Canadian police officers, diplomats and civilians.
asserted
members → serve → officers
Roughly 130 Canadian peacekeepers have been killed on various missions.
asserted
peacekeepers → kill → missions
Troop contributions have been dwindling for almost two decades and Dorn argues that much of Canada's hard-won influence in the developing world is now being ceded to Beijing.
asserted
much → dwindle → Beijing
"China wants to have a major role in peacekeeping.
asserted
China → want → peacekeeping
It's contributing in a major way whereas the United States is not," Dorn said.
asserted
Dorn → contribute → way
Lurkers in the deep: How Canada's new submarines will be used in peace and potential war
Ottawa sidelines foreign firms in $4.9B army vehicle competition
"If we, as Western countries, as the Canadian nation, decide to withdraw from peacekeeping — as we currently decided to do — then we're ceding more rights and more territory for China to take over leadership."
asserted
China → use → leadership
Many in the Canadian military are deeply skeptical, even openly hostile, to the peacekeeping legacy, mostly because of the deep frustration related to UN restrictions and bureaucracy that contributed to civilian deaths, including the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
asserted
that → relate → genocide
Over the years peacekeeping has evolved from traditional Cold War ceasefire monitoring to more dangerous "peace support" operations in failed states, where peacekeepers often found themselves amid active combat and ethnic violence.
asserted
peacekeepers → evolve → combat
Even still, well into the early 2000s, the mythology over Canadian peacekeeping operations persisted.
asserted
mythology → persist → operations
At the height of the Afghan war, Defence Department public opinion surveys consistently showed a desire for the country to return to its "traditional role" of peacekeeping.
asserted
country → show → peacekeeping
The Aporia
