Conclusion: Peacekeeping needs Canada

Marching Orders
How Canada abandoned peacekeeping – and why the UN needs us now more than ever

Conclusion: Peacekeeping needs Canada

Canadians are deeply sceptical of the U.S.-led War on Terror. Many would likely be alarmed if they understood how closely our political leadership has integrated Canada’s military policy with that of the U.S., devoting billions of dollars to pursuing in Afghanistan the same strategy that has failed the United States so miserably in Iraq.

But it will take a committed, well-informed and well-organized public to pull Canada’s foreign and defence policies out of the U.S. War on Terror’s fire. The hawks in Canada have tried to use the fear of terrorism to convince Canadians to throw in their lot with the Bush administration and move away from the United Nations and Canada’s traditional peacekeeping role. Yet everywhere the evidence exists that UN missions have evolved, that they are more successful and less costly than U.S.-led missions. What’s more, peacekeeping needs Canada.

Canada should immediately answer the call from the United Nations to provide more support to UN missions. It should set itself the goal of once more being among the top-10 global contributors of military personnel to UN operations within five years. This would only require the rededication of the current number of troops deployed in Afghanistan (2,300) to UN missions.

Canadians want their government and their military engaged in resolving international conflicts – not creating or exacerbating them. Regrettably, this view is not reflected in the declining numbers of Canadian peacekeepers deployed over the past 15 years. Nor is it borne out by the growing insurgency in southern Afghanistan or by the increasing numbers of dead and wounded Canadian soldiers and Afghan civilians. Nor by the increased dollars committed to combat missions by both the Martin and Harper governments. Nor by the escalating rhetoric of war employed by the current Conservative government.

At every turn, federal government policy is failing Canadians’ true desires and expectations and is becoming less and less distinguishable from that of the Bush administration’s War on Terror. Yes, Afghanistan must be rescued from the current cycle of violence. But Canada is complicit in this violence and should have never taken up its current “counter-insurgency” war-fighting role in Kandahar. Instead, we should refocus our role in the country on diplomatic measures to win “the hearts and minds” of the Afghan people, extend the legitimacy of the Afghan government, and ensure that aid dollars can reach those who need it most.

Now is the time for Canada to change course. It’s time to return to an independent path that’s in keeping both with Canadian public opinion and our historic internationalist values. It is a poor ally that won’t tell its “best friend” where the priorities of its people – and those of the world – truly lie. Canada needs to keep the peace.

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