It has been widely reported that Canada has been excluded from a
high-level meeting of “significant contributors” to the U.S.-led coalition
called to discuss stepping up the fight to defeat Islamic State militants.
Defence Minister Harjit
Sajjan has acknowledged that he wasn’t invited to Paris
but he denied that Canada
has lost its influence within the coalition. He is mistaken.
In 1609 Samuel de Champlain
made alliances with the Wendat (called Huron by the French) and the Algonquin. These
tribes demanded that Champlain help them in their war against the Iroquois.
Champlain set off with 9 French soldiers and 300 natives and on July 29th, near
present day Fort Ticonderoga, Champlain and 2 other
Frenchmen along with 60 natives encountered a group of Iroquois. Two hundred
Iroquois advanced on Champlain's position, and one of his guides pointed out
the 3 Iroquois chiefs. Champlain fired his matchlock musket killing two of them
with a single shot, and one of his men killed the third. The Iroquois turned
and fled. This action set the tone for French-Native relations for rest of that
century.
It also set the style for
Canadian military policy for the next four centuries. To the extent that Canada has
a military strategy, it consists of showing up to the fights that concern us
with just enough strength, either in manpower or technology, to have a voice in
the policies that effect us and the troops we are hazarding. Examples of this
policy can be found in every Canadian conflict from the Riel rebellion to the
world wars to our involvement in alliances such as NATO and NORAD.
In this case a press release
from the U.S. Defence Department described the Paris get-together as a meeting of
“significant contributors” in the battle to defeat the Islamic State. A senior defence department official said that the
Wednesday meeting was an extension of the so-called “quint” meetings of five
European nations involved in the ISIS fight.
U.S Secretary of Defense Ash Carter has praised those
who will be at the meeting for their “significant role” while pointedly saying
other nations need to step up their commitments
Canada currently has 69
special-forces troops training Kurdish soldiers and 600 air-force personnel in
Kuwait, where six CF-18s are based along with two surveillance planes and one
refueling tanker. The government has announced that the CF-18’s are to be
withdrawn, but no timetable has been given.
Well known defence analyst David Perry has been quoted as
saying “It certainly seems to suggest that there might be something to the fact
that we’re not there,”. Indeed, he said the missed invitation could be a
“consequence” of Canada
still being unclear about its next contribution at a time when other coalition
members are pledging more. He noted that Carter made a point of referring to
Wednesday’s gathering as a meeting of the “most significant mission
contributors.” By not being there, Canada
loses the chance to influence strategy in the ISIS
fight, he said. “If we’re not there at the meeting, we’re gong to have no
ability shape the agenda whatsoever. We’re just going to be told the outcome,”
David Bercuson, director for the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies at University of Calgary is quoted as saying that “We
don’t have a government policy. We have statements that were made in the
Liberal party platform and we have various statements from Liberal ministers in
the last several months and, quite frankly, I think they’re all over the map.” Bercuson
said he understands Minister Sajjan “wanting to take his time” on developing a
strategy but it’s worrisome if Canada
isn’t at the decision-making table. “Any discussions that going
on about this war should involve us,” he said. “We have men and women there
whose lives are on the line.”
In the meantime the federal
cabinet is reviewing a series of options presented by General Jonathan Vance,
Chief of the Defence Staff, to bolster Canada’s role in the coalition once
the bombing mission ends. Military sources say the proposals include sending up
to 150 Special Forces personnel to train Kurdish peshmerga fighters, having
Canadian soldiers train Iraqi forces in nearby Jordan and maintaining surveillance
and refueling aircraft.
The truth is that Canada's absence calls into question the degree
to which allies value the contribution Canada is making to the coalition
in light of the government's plan to withdraw its fighter jets from the region.
Former Liberal foreign
affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy is quoted by the CBC as saying that the federal government has been unclear
about what Canada's
contribution to the fight against ISIS will be
after its fighter jets are withdrawn from the region.
"It's not sure where and
what Canada
is planning to do," he said. "I know there are discussions reported …
in the cabinet retreat. I hope something comes out of it. I hope that by the
time Parliament meets next week that there will be a pretty clear set of
prescriptions put on the table of what we can do and how we can help."
Axworthy said there are many
other options for how Canada
could participate in the fight against ISIS, but that for the last three months
there's been uncertainty as to how Canada will continue to participate
in the coalition.
It is also true that, all protestations
to the contrary aside, Canada did not get invited to the meeting because the
decision to pull Canada's CF-18s out of the mission has sent a signal to our
allies that Canada is no longer actively engaged in the mission and can be
considered a second tier partner.
To quote former Conservative
defence minister Peter MacKay Canada’s
decision to scale back commitment, "while other countries in the coalition
are talking about stepping up their efforts … diminishes Canada's role and reputation in the
world."
A U.S. Embassy spokesperson is quoted as saying that the
meeting was a "one-time" event co-hosted by the U.S. and France
and was not a formal coalition meeting. "The United
States and Canada
are great friends and allies, and together with our coalition partners, we will
continue to work to degrade and destroy [ISIS],"
the embassy said in an email.
“Great friends”, words of
comfort which will undoubtedly go a long way in replacing a successful 400 year
old policy, as long as nobody actually thinks about it.
Canada shut out of IS coalition meeting.The Globe and Mail
Published Monday, Jan. 18,
2016 9:43PM EST
Defence minister Harjit
Sajjan denies being snubbed in ISIS meeting
Does it matter that Canada’s
excluded from anti-ISIS meeting?
Defence Minister Harjit
Sajjan says anti-ISIS meetings held 'all the time'
