Abstract
This chapter provides an overview of historical trends in international military operations undertaken by the Canadian Armed Forces. It then proceeds to outline the Trudeau government’s role in military operations through an analysis of three major military operations: Operation IMPACT, which involves the deployment of special forces personnel with the mandate of training Kurdish forces in North-Eastern Iraq in their campaign to retake Mosul; Operation REASSURANCE, the deployment of conventional forces to Eastern Europe; and Operation UNIFER, the special training mission to assist Ukraine in combating Russian aggression. Prime Minister Trudeau is not a reluctant warrior, but he puts the emphasis in a different place from the Harper government—on the creation and professionalization of local forces and the offering of tactical and strategic support where possible but steering clear of kinetic operations. Although Canada does play an important role in international military operations, its overall impact is predicated in large part on the contribution of its other middle- and great-power allies. Canada’s presence can only be felt when it is among other nations.
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Notes
- 1.
Pugliese (2015).
- 2.
Sajjan (2015).
- 3.
An important caveat is that the Trudeau government has discussed increasing its UN peacekeeping commitments with 600 troops and a budget of roughly $450 million. In principle and in rhetoric, this denotes a modest shift in stance when discussing UN peacekeeping operations, but neither troops nor money have yet to be committed to specific operations to date.
- 4.
The 2017 defence policy statement forecasts that by 2024–25, total defence spending will reach 1.4 per cent of GDP (National Defence 2017).
- 5.
Kofman and Rojansky (2013).
- 6.
Nau (2013, 181).
- 7.
Hampson and Saideman (2015, 3).
- 8.
- 9.
The 2017 defence policy statement plans for a 70 per cent increase of the defence budget in the next ten years (National Defence 2017).
- 10.
Hlatky (2013).
- 11.
- 12.
Russel (2015).
- 13.
- 14.
Department of National Defence (2016).
- 15.
Department of Defence (2017a).
- 16.
Connoly (2016).
- 17.
Mas (2016).
- 18.
Dion (2016). Prior to that, Canada was contributing to NATO’s air policing mission in the Baltics.
- 19.
North Atlantic Council (2016).
- 20.
Shlapak and Johnson (2016).
- 21.
Chase (2016).
- 22.
Brewster (2017).
- 23.
Sajjan (2017).
- 24.
Brewster (2017).
- 25.
Zyla (2015).
- 26.
- 27.
Zyla (2015).
- 28.
Auerswald and Saideman (2014).
- 29.
McInnis (2016, 6).
- 30.
McInnis (2016).
- 31.
Ibid.
- 32.
Mehta (2016).
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Rice, J., von Hlatky, S. (2018). Trudeau the Reluctant Warrior? Canada and International Military Operations. In: Hillmer, N., Lagassé, P. (eds) Justin Trudeau and Canadian Foreign Policy. Canada and International Affairs. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73860-4_15
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