A new study recommends “a major overhaul and upgrading of peacekeeping education, training and exercises” in order for Canadian Armed Forces to be ready to take part in UN peace operations. Canada has not done much peacekeeping recently, but while campaigning for office, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised a return to that role.
Canadians cherish the country’s past as a peacekeeping nation. In fact, it was Canadian Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson who first suggested the United Nations create a peacekeeping force in the 1950s. He was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for originating the idea. Canada contributed to peacekeeping missions in Egypt, Congo, Cyprus and several other countries.
Canada lags far behind, says professor
In the last decade, the force’s focus turned to counter-insurgency combat, particularly in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Now military personnel get less than a quarter of the kind of peacekeeping training they used to get, says Walter Dorn, a professor at the Royal Military College and co-author of the study.
He adds, the modern peace operations require “in-depth training and education” and that Canada lags “far behind other nations in its readiness to support the United Nations and train for modern peacekeeping.” The report was prepared for the Rideau Institute and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
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