“Soldiers first”: Preparing the Canadian Army for twenty-first century peace operations
| Author | Howard G Coombs |
| Published date | 01 June 2018 |
| Date | 01 June 2018 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0020702018785981 |
| Subject Matter | Scholarly Essay |
Scholarly Essay
‘‘Soldiers first’’:
Preparing the Canadian
Army for twenty-first
century peace
operations
Howard G Coombs
Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Abstract
The Canadian Army has historically adopted a paradigm of preparing for peace
operations by training and educating both soldiers and leaders to be capa ble of general-
purpose combat. This paradigm of ‘‘soldiers first’’ has not beenwithout its flaws, particularly
when the security environment, the operational mandate, and mission preparation became
unaligned. Consequently, as we move forward into the peace activities of the twenty-first
century, where Canadian soldiers will be committed to operations in complex regions like
Africa and the Middle East, it will be necessary to identify and institutionalize the lessons of
the past in order to ensure that the model of ‘‘soldiers first’’ can be adapted to the varied
challenges of the contemporary and future security environment through a holistic appli-
cation of specialized training, leader education, and institutional support.
Keywords
Canada, peacekeeping, peace operations, training, education, Canadian Armed Forces,
Canadian Army, Peace Support Training Centre
Introduction
When Canadians visualize peace operations or ‘‘peacekeeping,’’ as it is popularly
known, they tend to see an iconic image of soldiers wearing blue berets interposing
themselves between warring factions in order to bring a peaceful resolution to
ongoing conflict.
1
One can also argue that this idea is pervasive in Canada, perhaps
even hagiographic, shaping not only public perception but also security policy.
The election of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Liberals in 2015 resulted
International Journal
2018, Vol. 73(2) 205–220
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DOI: 10.1177/0020702018785981
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Corresponding author:
Howard G Coombs, History & War Studies, Royal Military College of Canada, PO Box 17000, Station
Forces Kingston, Ontario, K7K 7B4, Canada.
Email: howard.coombs@rmc.ca
in a defence review, released in June 2017. The Governor General of Canada, His
Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, introduced this initiative on 4
December 2015 in his Speech from the Throne, which marked the opening of the
forty-second Parliament of Canada. This address articulated federal government
priorities for security and defence. It not only announced the need for a defence
review, but also clearly laid out that this examination would be with the goal of
ensuring defence resources were capable of reacting quickly and comprehensively
to exigencies. One of those elements, which fell within the context of providing
security to Canadians and assisting others in need, was to assist efforts to establish
international peace through the United Nations (UN).
2
The main components of Johnston’s speech, pertaining to national defence, had
been disclosed in the ‘‘Minister of national defence mandate letter’’ released a few
weeks earlier in November 2015. These items included the requirements to ‘‘protect
Canadian sovereignty, defend North America, provide disaster relief, conduct
search and rescue, support United Nations (UN) peace operations [emphasis
added], and contribute to the security of our allies and to allied and coalition
operations abroad,’’ as well as to ‘‘ensure a close link between defence policy,
foreign policy, and national security.’’
3
However, with regard to these goals, Trudeau put it more succinctly with his
catchphrase ‘‘We’re back!’’ In the immediate aftermath of his 2015 election, he
observed that those who believed that Canada had given up its ‘‘compassionate
and constructive’’ participation in global affairs would be heartened to see that
the nation would take a rejuvenated role in the global community.
4
These state-
ments all underpinned the Liberal government’s desire for renewed involvement by
the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) in UN missions.
This possible increase of Canadian military involvement in contemporary peace
operations necessitates scrutiny of the training and education conducted by the
Canadian services, particularly the Canadian Army (CA), which has traditionally
supplied the bulk of Canadian contributions to UN activities. After doing so, it is
evident that the principle of training service personnel in general-purpose combat,
or core elements of the profession of arms, remains foundational. In addition to
1. Peacekeeping consists of activities, normally undertaken by military personnel, predicated on ‘‘con-
sent, impartiality and the minimum use of force,’’ and aimed at creating a durable and lasting peace.
Peace operations consist of a broad range of actions in which expeditionary military and police
forces undertake to ‘‘prevent, limit and manage violent conflict as well as rebuild in its aftermath.’’
Peace operations may be non-permissive, may favour one side or another, and might not be limited
in their use of force. Alex J. Bellamy, Paul D. Williams, and Stuart Griffin, Understanding
Peacekeeping, 2nd ed. (Malden, MA: Polity Press, 2010; reprint, 2011), 173–175 and 18.
2 Canada, Governor-General, ‘‘‘Making real change happen’: Speech from the Throne to open the
first session of the forty-second Parliament of Canada,’’ Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada,
4 December 2015, https://web.archive.org/web/20170612160404/ http://speech.gc.ca/en/content/
making-real-change-happen (accessed 8 May 2018).
3. Canada, Prime Minister, ‘‘Minister of national defence mandate letter,’’ 13 November 2015, http://
pm.gc.ca/eng/minister-national-defence-mandate-letter (accessed 8 May 2018).
4. The Canadian Press, ‘‘‘We’re back’ says Justin Trudeau at Ottawa rally,’’ video, 20 October 2015,
http://www.sachem.ca/videopopup/5970582?popUp¼true (accessed 8 May 2018).
206 International Journal 73(2)
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