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Will Canada Be a UN Peacekeeper Again?

Explore Canada's historical involvement in UN peacekeeping missions, its current contributions, and the potential for revitalizing its role in global peace efforts. Delve into key events, opinions, and challenges faced in peacekeeping operations, reflecting on Lester B. Pearson's legacy and the country's unique contributions to international peace initiatives.

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Will Canada Be a UN Peacekeeper Again?

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  1. Will Canada Be a UN Peacekeeper Again? Dr. Walter Dorn Canadian Forces College 11 February 2010 UN Photo

  2. Canadian Peacekeeping Tradition 1994 1996 1988 1992 1957 2001 2003 2007 1993 2000 1995

  3. Cdn Fatalities Plaque Dorn “We Remember” Gift of Command and Staff Course 25

  4. Canadian Association of Veterans in UN Peacekeeping (CAVUNP)

  5. Nobel Speech 1957 “We made at least a beginning then. If, on that foundation, we do not build something more permanent and stronger, we will once again have ignored realities, rejected opportunities and betrayed out trust.” Lester B. Pearson Nobel Prize acceptance speech Oslo, Dec. 11, 1957

  6. Ineffective UN Peacekeeping peacekeeping is “so flawed that it must be abandoned altogether.” “the Secretariat should stop running peacekeeping operations, and blue-beret forces should stop going where armed resistance can be expected.” “A Bungling U.N. Undermines Itself” by Michael Ignatieff, NY Times, 15 May 2000 http://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/15/opinion/a-bungling-un-undermines-itself.html

  7. Difficult Missions, 1993-95 Somalia Rwanda Bosnia

  8. Peacekeeping: First 50 Years

  9. Eastern Congo: Robust Peacekeeping (MONUC) Mi-25 Combat Helicopters

  10. Peacekeeping defined … • the deployment of international military and civilian personnel • to a conflict area, with the consent of the major parties to the conflict, acting impartially in order to: • stop or contain hostilities or • supervise the carrying out of a peace agreement • Build a sustainable peace. • Minimum use of force for self-defence and defence of mission. UN Source: modified from UN Website

  11. Peace Keeping Peace Building Peace Enforcement Peace Making s c Peace Support Operation (NATO doctrine) Violence Potential Humanitarian Assistance UNHCR UNHCR Increasing Force Source: adapted from PSTC, EO 401.02

  12. Canada and the Evolution of Peacekeeping Four Types/Generations 1 – Observer 2 – Interposition 3 – Multidimensional 4 – Transitional administration Expanding functions

  13. UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) Paul Martin, Sr. Min. Ext. Affairs

  14. MultidimensionalPeacekeeping Political Military Humanitarian Police Social Reconstruction Judicial Economic

  15. Civil-Military Coordination

  16. UN Photo, 27 Sep. 2002 UN membership East Timor: UNTAET … UNMISET

  17. Electoral Officer, 1999 • Voter education • Catholic Church compound in Suai • Home of over 1,000 IDPs (Internally Displaced People)

  18. Peacekeeping Today

  19. Uniformed UN Peacekeepers(Military and Police, 1991–2009)

  20. Canadian Uniformed Personnel in UN PKO(Total Military and Police)

  21. Canada's Rank Among UN Contributors(by contribution of uniformed personnel to UN peacekeeping)

  22. Canadian Uniformed Personnel in UN PKO 800 700 MINUSTAH 600 500 UNMEE 400 Personnel 300 UNDOF 200 100 0 2000-Jan 2001-Jan 2003-Jan 2004-Jan 2005-Jan 2006-Jan 2007-Jan 2002-Jan 2005-Sep 2000-Sep 2001-Sep 2002-Sep 2003-Sep 2004-Sep 2000-May 2001-May 2002-May 2003-May 2004-May 2005-May 2006-May 2007-May 2006-Sept 2007-Sept Military Police 75% drop Police: 101 Military: 57

  23. Canadian Contributions Currently: • 55 soldiers • 115 civilian police • 250 civilians • 56th rank in UN (Mil+CivPol) • Cold War Cdn Contrib: 10% • Current: 0.01% (factor of 100) Closeout of Op Danaca, UNDOF (Golan Heights, 25 March 2006) (Figures for 31 December 2009)

  24. Canadians View Peacekeeping as … January 2008 URL: www.igloo.org/canadasworld/learnmor/quizzesa/pollresu

  25. UN Mission in Haiti • 5 Cdn soldiers • 90 Cdn Police • Op Hestia • 2,000 CF personnel • DART • HMCS Athabaskan • HMCS Halifax

  26. What Canada has to Offer Peacekeeping Canadian Forces • Bilingual, multicultural armed force • Well trained and educated • Experienced • Respectful of locals, not heavy handed • Friendly, congenial military personnel • Wide range of expertise, in areas desperately needed by UN • C2, intelligence, logistics, communications

  27. What Canada has to Offer Peacekeeping Canadian Nation • Less “baggage” (not colonial power) • Peaceful national example (pen not sword) • Proponent of the rule of law and peace • Pearson’s proposal for the first peacekeeping force • Ottawa convention on APM, human security, R2P • Not selfish national interest • Identified with peacekeeping

  28. UN View “I regret that Canada has so little involvement with peacekeeping. “It would send a very strong and powerful signal if Canada showed it was going back into peacekeeping. In the credibility of peacekeeping, it would not go unnoticed, because of the historical role of Canada in the creation of peacekeeping, and because of what Canada represents today.” — Jean-Marie Guéhenno, UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Source: Interview with L.McQuaig, 21 April 2006, quoted in McQuaig, Holding the Bully’s Coat: Canada and the US Empire, Doubleday, Toronto, 2007.

  29. What Peacekeeping has to offer Canada • Component of national identity • Doing good • Not selfish, self-centred nation • Population identifies with peacekeeping • Meet both bilateralist and internationalist tendencies • Role for Canadian Forces post-Afghanistan • Role for Canada on world stage • Seat on SC • Reimbursement (partial) of expenses • The world’s peace is our peace.

  30. Will Canada Be a UN Peacekeeper Again? • Political • Domestic (Conservatives, Liberal, NDP, Bloc) • International • Military • Post-Afghanistan • Leadership • Economic • Less costly • Social • Cdn people • Problems/Criticisms • Dealt with: Pkg myth, Ineffective, Afghan mission • People are smarter than the strategists

  31. Will Canada Be a UN Peacekeeper Again?

  32. Dr. Walter Dorn Ottawa Outfront 11 February 2010 UN Photo

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