Nature of peacekeeping changing for Canadians
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. “Probably even fewer people know that Canada is in Niger,” says 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 counterterrorism 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 nature of peacekeeping has changed.
In light of the UN conference on peacekeeping bringing delegates from dozens of nations to Vancouver next week, the national debate has focused on how Canada can support United Nations efforts. But this dialogue risks overlooking the majority of the Canadian army’s current missions.
“That’s a general misperception among Canadians,” says Queen’s University professor Joel Sokolosky.
“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 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 hurricane ravaged Caribbean.
Canada’s military is already present around the world — just not always as peacekeepers.
Many current missions are “more green helmet than blue,” says Sokolosy, meaning they involve more military might than peacekeeping vigilance, and don’t fit the Canadian national identity in the same way that standing on guard for peace once did.
“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 an additional 600 peacekeeping troops, they’ve taken pains to acknowledge the realities on the ground.
Still, traditional peacekeeping is not forgotten. Within sight of Parliament Hill in 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 — we should be proud to honour both.