Military presence goes beyond UN missions
Canadian Forces are constantly active, write Marc and Craig Kielburger.
When four American Green Berets were killed in an ambush in Niger last month, the first reaction from many was surprise: When did the War on Terror sprawl to West Africa?
A major part of the incident’s news cycle consisted of pundits struggling to answer this fundamental question. Here at home, “probably even fewer people know that Canada is (also) in Niger,” says Wilfrid Laurier University professor Timothy Donais.
Donais is referring to Task Force NABERIUS, an elite team of 24 Canadian Armed Forces members on the ground in Niger since 2013. They’re training the Nigerien military in everything from counter-terrorism to the protection of vulnerable populations. The low-key mission is billed as capacity-building — but as the recent events in Niger demonstrate, all military operations in unstable regions carry risks.
Operation NABERIUS is a small contingent of soldiers, to be sure. Taken with other ongoing military engagements around the world, however, it paints a different picture of our army than the one imprinted on Canada’s national consciousness.
We see ourselves as peacekeepers, but the very nature of peacekeeping has changed.
With all the talk of how “the world needs more Canada”— and in light of this year’s United Nations conference on peacekeeping in Vancouver, where delegates from dozens of nations are gathering on Tuesday and Wednesday — the national debate has focused exclusively on how Canada can support UN efforts. But this dialogue risks overlooking the vast majority of the Canadian army’s current missions. “That’s a general misperception among Canadians,” says Queen’s University professor Joel Sokolsky. “The major focus of the Canadian Armed Forces is overseas in support of our allies, not in support of the United Nations.”
Beyond UN missions in the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Haiti and the Golan Heights — and the high-profile engagements in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Ukraine, there are Canadian Forces in Latvia and Kosovo. Canadian navy ships patrol the eastern Pacific Ocean to fight drug trafficking. Air force cargo planes transport personnel and equipment in Mali. Military engineers and doctors operate in the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt. Officers train Palestinian Authority Security Forces in Jerusalem. Soldiers deliver aid in the wake of hurricanes in the Caribbean.
Canada’s military is already present around the world — just not always as peacekeepers.
“The era of classic peacekeeping is long gone,” he says.
Instead, we’re in an era of peace enforcement — a riskier mandate to neutralize more than act as impartial mediator. Even as the government mulls over an additional 600 peacekeeping troops, they’ve taken pains to acknowledge the complexity of realities on the ground.
Traditional peacekeeping may be disappearing — but it’s not forgotten.
Within sight of Parliament Hill in downtown Ottawa, three towering bronze soldiers stand atop a pedestal of stone, a monument to Canada’s peacekeeping history. The world needs more Canada — blue helmets or green — and we should be proud to honour both.