NDDN Committee Report

NDP Dissenting Report on Canada’s Role in International Peace Operations and conflict Resolution Report

The NDP dissents from the National Defence Committee report on Canada’s Role in International Peace Operations and Conflict Resolution.  While there are important recommendations in the report on Canada’s continued role with the UN and peace operations, the report simply does not go far enough in holding the Government to their promises of increased participation in international peace operations. While we support all of the recommendations in the report, we cannot support a report that ignores Canada’s failure to keep its promises to recommit to international peace operations. The report also fails to reflect testimony which clearly identified that United Nations peace operations should be the priority for Canada as United Nations peace operations have the best record of success. 

It was the need for re-engaging on the global stage that prompted the Liberals to promise greater UN participation once they became government after 2015. At the 2017 Vancouver Ministerial Conference, the Government committed to 600 troops and 150 police officers for UN operations. After four years, this promise has largely gone unfulfilled by the Government. While Canada has engaged in a MEDEVAC mission in Mali called Operation PRESENCE since June 2018, the contingent was just 280 Canadian Armed Forces members with 3 Chinook and 5 Griffon helicopters, and a CC130J heavy-lift Hercules. Not only below what the Government initially promised at the Vancouver summit, the Canadian Forces in Mali are scheduled to depart after only 12 months in operation by July 2019. The premature departure will create a gap in MEDEVAC operations for the UN as Romania is not scheduled to be fully operational as Canada’s replacement until October 15, 2019. This will require the UN to restrict their overall peace operations within the country during the interim, jeopardizing the peace process and civilian populations.

New Democrats remain disappointed with the Government’s record on UN peace operations and promises of global reengagement. The Government has simply failed to realize their promises which in turn paled in comparison to Canada’s past levels of engagement. The fact that New Democrats proposed a study at the Standing Committee on National Defence regarding Canada’s participation in peace operations took 2 years to get started and kept getting delayed to only have a report that does not fully represent the evidence heard by witnesses demonstrates the Government’s mishandling of the file. This has been to the detriment of Canadians, our brave women and men in and out of uniform who serve in such missions, and to our global partners who rely on Canada’s unique skills and capacity. Canadians and the world have seen the positive effects that Canada has on engaging in multi-lateral peace operations and we must remain committed to such efforts to foster a more peaceful world.

It is important for Canadians to understand that despite the challenges associated with participating in peace operations, most of the witnesses testified at Committee that such operations remain relevant and that the United Nations is the best at managing such operations. Peggy Mason, President of the Rideau Institute on International Affairs did acknowledge that “UN peacekeeping is no miracle cure and there are no guarantees of success,” but “when properly mandated, resourced, and managed, UN peacekeeping offers the best chance for a country to transition from civil war to stable governance.”[1] Ms. Mason further elaborated that:

[p]eacekeeping is the front end of a complex, long-term process of helping conflicting parties create the necessary conditions – political, socio-economic, and security – for sustainable peace. At the centre of this effort is the peace process. Complex political problems always lie at the heart of violent conflict and require political solutions that are negotiated and agreed to by the parties….It is precisely because of the primacy of the peace process that today’s multi-dimensional UN peace operations are much more than military operations charged with providing a safe and secure environment. The core of the effort comprises civilians mandated to facilitate the peace process, promote the rule of law, and support the establishment of legitimate and effective institutions of governance…This military assistance is in concert with diplomatic and technical support for national political dialogue and reconciliation efforts.[2]

Peace operations deployed through the UN are often-times better supported by the global community because they are viewed as a neutral body without the limitations of any one nation’s or group of nations political views and agendas. As Ms. Mason noted, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization or coalitions of the willing “lack the perceived legitimacy and impartiality of UN-led operations precisely because their political and military leaders are seen to represent a very specific set of powerful countries and interests,” thereby raising fears of being occupied by a foreign force in some of the regions where these operations are occurring.”[3] While these same countries are members of the UN, the structure and composition of UN-led peace operations “mitigates this tendency in both perception and reality,” while she further emphasized that the UN is the “only organization through which the forces of the [5 permanent members of the Security Council] and all major powers, including rising and regional powers, can jointly participate [and offer] the possibility of a politically diverse and operationally capable mission.”[4] According to Ms. Mason, the “main comparative advantage for a UN peace operation is its integrated command structure under civilian authority, which in turn reflects the primary of the peace process, and which facilitates unity of purpose and of effort.”[5]

While Canada has a long history of participation in UN peace operations, Canada largely withdrew from participating in the 1990s and 2000s. According to Professor Walter Dorn, professor at Royal Military College of Canada and appearing before Committee as an individual, the downside of Canada’s withdrawal from UN peace operations since the 1990s has been a decline in the country’s capacity to participate in such operations. Dr. Dorn explained that, “[w]ith few personnel deployed over the past two decades, the Canadian Armed Forces have less experience than in previous generations and do much less training” to prepare for peace operations.[6] In Professor Dorn’s view, Canada has “much to do to re-engage in peace operations.”[7]

New Democrats wish to highlight the importance of the recommendation in the report which calls for the re-establishment of the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre and we hope to see early action to restore our leadership role in education, training, and research on peace operations.