The changing security environment is of direct relevance to Canadians, not the least because of our mission in Afghanistan. The Toronto arrests in June 2006 of several young men suspected of plotting terrorist activities demonstrated that even a country with a ‘dovish' international reputation is fair game for terrorist cells. Pandemics, nuclear proliferation, and the possibly of interstate and intrastate conflict continue to be issues of paramount international concern to Canadians and others alike.
    
Canada has a history of adapting to new and emerging threats to the security environment - such as our ‘invention' of peacekeeping and the human security agenda - and making substantial commitments to maintaining traditional, state-to-state peace through collective security. The following is a summary of those commitments.

1. A brief overview of Canada's military interventions

Canada has a distinguished military history. With limited foreign policy independence until the 1931 Statute of Westminster, Canada did nonetheless participate with the Commonwealth in the Second Boer War and again in the First World War. It was through the victories at Vimy Ridge in northern France and elsewhere that Canadian soldiers earned a reputation as a formidable force independent of Britain. In September 1939 Canada responded to Hitler's aggressions by declaring war on Germany one week after Britain and France. With a limited air force, Canada made a small but significant contribution in the Battle of Britain, and the Royal Canadian Navy with the Canadian merchant marine played a crucial role in the Battle of the Atlantic.

In 1951, Canada formed part of the British Commonwealth Forces in Korea. Although some have called this "Canada's Forgotten War," 26,791 Canadian troops were sent to Korea and 1,588 of them were casualties. Since 1949, more than 125,000 Canadians have participated in UN peacekeeping operations. These have included operations in Cyprus and observer missions in the Sinai and Golan Heights, Ethiopia-Eritrea, East Timor, Bosnia, Somalia, and Rwanda. More recently Canada has participated with allied forces in the Persian Gulf War (1990- 1991), Bosnia (1995-1998), Kosovo (1999), Afghanistan as part of the Operation Enduring Freedom  (October 2001), and again as part of the UN-sanctioned NATO force in Afghanistan (February 2003 to the present).

2. Canada's contribution to disarmament

Canada has also made significant contributions to addressing conflict in non-militaristic terms. From the post-WWII years to the end of the Cold War, Canada played an active role in advocating for the non-proliferation of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. Between 1948 and 1957, Canada was a member of two successive United Nations commissions on eliminating or controlling nuclear arms.  In 1968, Canada joined the United States, Soviet Union, Britain, France, and China and signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).

Canada has also been involved in other non-proliferation initiatives, including the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), which aims to limit nuclear weapons testing (ratified in 1996). The Canadian government advocated internationally for the negotiation of a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty to prohibit the production of nuclear material used in nuclear weapons. Canada has also participated in informal non-proliferation arrangements such as the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), which seeks to prevent the international transport of banned WMD and WMD technology, and the Nuclear Suppliers Group, which monitors nuclear material supplies around the world.

3. Canada and the human security agenda

Canada's foreign policy has historically included a range of non-military policies as part of its overall security policy. Recently, foreign policy experts and politicians, notably the former Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy, have advanced the concept of human security. According to this view, military approaches are important but not sufficient to ensure security for citizens.

Canada has played a lead role in advancing a human security agenda internationally. Working in conjunction with other governments, multilateral institutions, private sector actors, and civil society organizations, Canada has used its ‘soft-power' skills of negotiation, coalition building, dialogue, and diplomatic influence to initiate and support a number of human-security oriented global initiatives:

→  In 1997, Canada led a process that created the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production, and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, more commonly known as the Landmines Treaty or the Ottawa Treaty.

→  Canada convened the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty to explore when, if ever, it is appropriate for states to intervene militarily against another state for the purposes of protecting the population from catastrophe. This report led the creation of The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) report in 2001.

→  In the late 1990s, Canada played a lead role in developing and ratifying the Rome Statute, which established an International Criminal Court with jurisdiction over genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.

→  Canada has also played a role in addressing the plight of child soldiers, the effects of small arms trade on development, and the trafficking of diamonds that fund conflicts - 'blood diamonds' - in Africa.

4. Canada and the War on Terror

Though Canada did not commit troops to Iraq in 2003, preferring instead to wait for UN authorization, it has been deeply involved in the US ‘War on Terror' and US counterterrorism initiatives abroad since 9/11. Canadian personnel and hardware played a support role in the invasion of Iraq and post-war construction, helping train police officers, write Iraq's constitution, and provide the US military with logistical support. Canada has made a major troop commitment to Afghanistan under several International Security Assistance Force missions, the latest of which involves some 2,500 troops stationed in the southern province of Kandahar. Canadian-US defence cooperation on border security and port security has also become more integrated post-9/11. Canada participates in US continental defence through NORAD, including a passive role in ballistic missile defence systems. In 2006 NORAD was expanded to include joint US-Canada Maritime defence. Canada also indicated it will uphold United Nations Security Council sanctions against Iran and North Korea over their nuclear programmes, and has helped the US track down and identify sources of terrorism funding.

Next section: A Critical Look at Canada's Contribution