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

Peacekeeping by the numbers

The War in Iraq Costs (U.S.) calculator by the National Priorities Project.

Number of Canadian military personnel on UN peacekeeping missions worldwide as of
August 31, 1991: 1,149 

Number of Canadian military personnel on UN peacekeeping missions worldwide as of
August 31, 2006: 56

Number of military personnel (all nationalities) on UN peacekeeping missions as of
August 31, 1991: 10,801 

Number of military personnel (all nationalities) on UN peacekeeping missions as of
August 31, 2006: 66,786

Number of UN peacekeeping missions worldwide as of August 31, 1991: 11 

Number of UN peacekeeping missions worldwide as of August 31, 2006: 16 

Cost of all current Canadian UN peacekeeping missions (2006-07): $6.2 million 

Cost of Canadian mission in Afghanistan (2006-07): $1.4 billion 

Cost of Canadian mission in Afghanistan to date (2001 to 2006-07): $5 billion 

Increase in military spending announced in 2005 by previous Liberal government:
$12.8 billion over 5 years

Increase in military spending announced in 2006 by current Conservative government:
$5.3 billion on top of promised Liberal increases over 5 years

Number of Canadian soldiers who have died on UN peacekeeping missions since 1990: 19

Number of Canadian soldiers who have died in Afghanistan since 2001: 42

Percentage of Canadians who consider peacekeeping “a defining characteristic of Canada”: 69% (October 25, 2005, Centre for Research and Information on Canada)

Percentage of Canadians who oppose sending troops to Afghanistan: 53% (October 2006, The Strategic Counsel)

Percentage of Canadians who opposed extending the mission in Afghanistan by 2 years: 54% (June 2006, Decima Research)

Percentage of Canadians who believe “Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan are dying for a cause we cannot win”: 59% (October 2006, Decima Research)

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MARCHING ORDERS

updated September 19, 2007