While Canada, quite rightfully it turns out, refused to participate in the U.S. led invasion of Iraq in the pursuit of weapons of mass destruction, she has hardly been a passive wallflower on the world stage of military commitment. Since the days of Lester Pearson brokering a deal between the Egyptians, Israelis, French and British in the Suez, Canada's role as peacekeeper is oft heralded as one of the key qualities for which the world adores us. [getimage.asp]
Successive Prime Ministers have all spoken volumes of Canada's leading role in world affairs, mediating between warring parties and sending Canadian forces to keep the peace Canadian diplomacy has helped to establish.
The difference between then and now is that Canada used to have the military ability to back up its ambitions.
Particularly during the Jean Chretien era, Canada's commitments to overseas peacekeeping engagements has expanded to the point that even the military is publicly decrying a need for its soldiers to take a break from the number of missions it is asked to undertake. While Chretien's commitment to international diplomacy and peacekeeping went up, his commitment to maintaining and supporting an effective Canadian military decreased.
Looking at Canada's current engagements, it's hard to argue that the country isn't doing its part in maintaining world order. Currently, various forms of Canadian military can be found in: the Middle East, Korea, Cyprus, Syria, Sinai, Kuwait, Western Sahara, Cambodia, Guatemala, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and of course, the Balkans. For an active force of 60,000 members, that's a whole lot of commitment.
This past week, Paul Martin announced he would order Canadian Forces personnel to deploy to Haiti to defend the Canadian Embassy in Port-au-prince. Initially the Department of National Defence (DND) committed nine troops (that's individual people, not divisions of troops) to the mission. It's difficult to imagine what's scarier: being one of the nine soldiers deployed into a war zone or being a Canadian holed up at the embassy and hearing that your federal government is sending a whopping contingent of nine (hopefully) armed soldiers to protect you.
On Friday, March 5th, he increased that contingent to 425; still not a huge deployment but nothing to sneeze at either, especially when your military is in as sad a state as Canada's.
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