The truth about Canadian peacekeeping has been distorted, lied about and covered-up for many reasons. Since the reality about these missions has been often so distorted, Canadians are led to believe that Canada is a peaceful country that has done no harm in the world. Canada’s real role in peacekeeping has been that of securing strategic areas for its imperialist allies and securing its own economic or political interests.

The United Nations (UN) “peacekeeping” missions are widely thought of as an international effort involving an operational force to promote the ending of armed conflict or the resolution of long-standing disputes. But why then have certain areas of the world been concentrated on for peacekeeping, while others have been completely forgotten? Why has the Canadian Forces been subject to cover-ups over its operations during the 1990s? Why are places like Afghanistan (the subject of the articles in this publication) no better off than they were before Canada’s forces entered its borders?

This document will detail many different peacekeeping missions as well as Canada’s Joint Task Force II. This is of course, not a complete history of Canadian peacekeeping but it is focused on the missions many will call the “great milestones in Canadian history”, as well as those missions many would like to forget.

UNEF & the Suez Canal

Although before 1956 there had been some peacekeeping observation missions, the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) in Egypt is said to be the first true peacekeeping mission, and the mission that gave peacekeeping its name.

The Suez Canal separates Egypt’s mainland from the Sinai Peninsula and the Sinai separates the Canal from Israel. This canal is historically important for maintaining control of Africa and India. It is extremely important for transporting goods and oil through from Asia and Africa to the West. This is why when Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal Company, Britain and France objected.

By nationalizing the company, Egypt had complete control over what went through the canal, so the Europeans could no longer decide when and what they could transport through it. This pitted Egypt against Britain, France and Israel who used the Suez Canal for transport and trade. Shortly after the canal’s nationalization, Israel, France, and the UK invaded Egypt. Soon after, the Anglo-French force’s refusal to leave raised tensions with other Nato countries.

The US opposed the Anglo-French action, partly because they felt it could weaken their own influence in the Middle East – and this raised fears of a split within Nato. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union offered to help Egypt. Because of this, the then Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lester B. Pearson, feared that the West would lose its Cold War advantage. Pearson suggested a “legitimate” UN force be placed in Egypt.

The fighting stopped in November 1956 when UNEF secured the area. In April, the Canal was re-opened. UNEF’s goals had been met in Egypt. This mission cleared the English and French from the ensuing problems in the region and the Soviets withdrew their threats. UNEF solved the “Soviet Union against Nato” crisis in that strategic area of the world and allowed the US, Britain, and France to stay allies. The mission also secured the area for one of the West’s primary trade and transport routes.

The Congo

The Congo was an uncontrolled territory that held many valuable resources, including diamonds, copper, cobalt and uranium. It was colonized and occupied by Belgium over a century ago for these reasons. During the Cold War, intrigue into the Congo grew as the US thought the Soviets would steal the area for its uranium and as the Congolese people fought for their independence from Europe.

Canada itself was interested in the Congo for hydroelectric projects that could be used for uranium separation. Canada, by the end of the 1950s, was already supplying the US with at least 50% of its nuclear material for bombs, and the Congo was supplying it with another portion.

Following World War Two, a wave of national-liberation movements swept Africa. The Soviet Union tried to pull newly liberated countries into their sphere of influence in order to gain more strategic areas than the US during the Cold War. There was also a fear that Belgian bases in Africa could work against Nato if they got into the wrong (Soviet) hands.

The Congolese won their independence from Belgium in 1960. However, Nato needed to make sure that the Congo would eventually be a neutral country that would respect the West’s interests in the region. A UN peacekeeping force was called in. However, the UN force was not warmly welcomed; many peacekeepers were beaten and tortured.

This mission was formally a UN mission. However, it helped secure this area of Africa for Nato countries by denying the Soviet Union access. The mission, probably not coincidentally, was unable or unwilling to prevent the murder of the Congo’s first Prime Minister and independence leader, Patrice Lumumba. It is one example of the lengths Canada went during the Cold War to secure a strategic area for its allies, while promoting its interests in the uranium industry.

Cyprus

Cyprus is an island strategically placed between Europe and the Middle East. It is just south of Turkey and west of Syria. 79% of the population of Cyprus is of Greek ancestry, while 18% is of Turkish origin. The island became a British colony in 1925.

In the mid 1950s some Greek Cypriots wanted to join as a country with Greece, a movement called enosis, while the Turkish Cypriots disagreed with this. There was an agreement on the island to create a republic in 1959, but more violence continued after that. The British, Turkish and Greeks tried to support a cease-fire but this effort was inadequate.

This conflict became a problem of Nato’s because it put two Nato countries, Turkey and Greece, against each other. A UN force called UNIFCYP was initially to stay in Cyprus for only three months, yet a small force stayed all the way through the 1980s.

Canadian interest in Cyprus is similar to that of the Suez Canal and of the Congo. The Soviet Union had 700 missiles pointed at Nato countries, so there were plans to use Cyprus as a missile base to counter this threat. In order to protect oil interests outside Nato, Canberra bombers were placed on the island. Cyprus was basically used as a base for Nato countries. When Iraq threatened to invade Kuwait in 1961, rapid deployment of troops from Cyprus quickly stopped a crisis that could have led to a threatened oil supply for the West.

If there were a crisis on the island of Cyprus it could have seriously disrupted Nato’s communications and ability to defend itself – as 11 nuclear storage and communications facilities had been placed in both Greece and Turkey.

The 1990s were a busy time for the Canadian Forces, beginning with their participation in the attack on Iraq in 1991 during the First Gulf War.

The 1990s

The armed conflict that erupted in the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s provided the pretext for varying interventions. Between 1992 and 2004 more than 40 000 Canadians served in Bosnia-Herzegovina (a region of the former Yugoslavia) alone, not counting deployment in Croatia or its air deployment in the Kosovo campaign.

In 1999, actions in the region took a new leap as Nato unleashed an air war against Serbia. This was ostensibly to protect civilians in the Serbian province of Kosovo who were being oppressed by Serbia – but had much more to do with Nato flexing its muscles against an uncooperative Serbia. For this campaign, Canada sent 125 air personnel to a base in Italy in support of Nato. Nato attacked all sorts of infrastructure in Serbia, including bridges, a hospital and a television station. Over 1,000 civilians were killed by the Nato bombing.

European forces took over Balkan operations in 2004. All but a few of Canada’s 650 troops stationed there were withdrawn. Only a couple months earlier in August Canada had sent 450 troops to support the US-led coup against Jean-Bertrand Aristide in Haiti – reflecting a shift in the division of imperialist responsibilities in the post-Cold War world.

One of the most controversial deployments of Canadian troops was to Somalia in 1992 – one billed as a humanitarian relief mission.

Locals did not welcome the deployment. It had become common for youth to sneak onto the Canadian base in Somalia to steal food. The Canadian Airborne Regiment, an elite unit, had been afflicted by several problems prior to Somalia. It had discipline problems – and known sympathizers of the KKK (an infamous American violently racist organization) were not removed from the unit.

On 4 March 1993, Canadian troops from the Airborne Regiment, lured, captured, and tortured two Somali youth. One was killed and the other was injured. Only twelve days later another Somali youth, Shidane Arone, was caught and then killed, only after being tortured for hours in the camp. There are conflicting accounts of why the boy’s murder was allowed, but the killers and those who had been involved in the torture claim the military brass had given them carte blanche. The murders shocked the Canadian public, and humiliated the government.

The Airborne Regiment was disbanded in early 1995 after months of public outrage and international shaming of Canadian Forces due to the murder, torture, and cover-up scandals, which seemed to continue unabated. However, this disbanded regiment was not totally destroyed, but was absorbed by a new up and coming combat unit of the Canadian Forces: Joint Task Force 2 (JTF2).

The JTF2

JTF2, created in April 1993, is a source of pride for the Canadian bourgeoisie, who can respond rapidly anywhere in the world to a diverse range of “crises”, stamping out little fires before they become big.

JTF2 is the Canadian Forces’ elite unit of commandos. Its members are picked for their aggressiveness and are trained for counter-“terrorism” and counter-insurgency.

JTF2 is the “secret” arm of the Canadian ruling classes. They have been found all over the world: Haiti, Afghanistan, Rwanda, Congo, and even in deployments against aboriginals in BC (the Canadian province of British Colombia) and Quebec. The Ottawa Citizen broke the story of JTF2 working clandestinely in the former Yugoslavia, something the UN did not even know about. The unit’s secretive nature means that it can engage in various crises often before Parliament, much less the public, can become aware of it or organize opposition.

But as the unit’s purpose explains, its use is permitted to defend the “national interest”. By bypassing some sections of the government, JTF2 is an added security for the Canadian bourgeoisie in times of crisis, where things must often be done outside of national and international legality. It saw action in Canadian military efforts against the First Nations (indigenous people) in 1995 and bombing practice carried out near the city of Anjou, Quebec, as the referendum on Quebec sovereignty in 1995 neared, to intimidate pro-independence forces.

Elite Canadian troops were also used to train counter-insurgency forces in Peru and Nepal. These units (both Royal Army, police and Armed Police Force) have been responsible for wanton human rights violations in Nepal, including mass killings, disappearances, torture, and rape.

The world imperialist economic system under which we all live necessitates that the countries on the receiving end of the benefits of this system (including countries like Canada) must act to maintain and extend their dominance. This means seizing markets, resource-rich areas, eliminating threats, punishing rivals, among other measures. Canadian foreign policy, including its peacekeeping roles, only makes sense when viewed in this context.

Every instance in which Canadian forces have been deployed overseas demonstrates this rule: the Canadian military acts to defend the dominant political and economic relations from which the Canadian ruling class benefits: namely, imperialist and capitalist relations – the same relations which dictate that life is a living hell for billions of people on the planet. Canada acts to further the dominance and expansion of international capitalism, both to benefit interests within Canada specifically, and to aid those of the US and other imperialists generally when these interests complement Canada’s needs. An invasion or intervention doesn’t necessarily mean direct profit for Canada’s imperialists, but it does maintain their good standing in a fraternity of thieves

Source: AWTW