Canadian Defence Policy and Armed Intervention

By: Daniel Maillet, CAF Dispatch Author 

In a recent briefing paper presented to The Simons Foundation, peace advocate Ernie Regehr presented his outline for how the Government of Canada should assess any future Peacekeeping, Peace Support, or Military Operation.

His paper is a direct Canadian link to his published work, Disarming Conflict: Why Peace Cannot Be Won on the Battlefield (2015) where Regehr outlines that military victories are extremely rare in the post-World War Two era, and they are in decline since the end of the Cold War.

Regehr states that while a foe can be military degraded through armed intervention, that does not guarantee the region will be governable, secure, or safer in the future. Therefore, before Canada deploys to what many consider  extremely volatile regions as it returns to a Peacekeeping model for its armed forces, it needs to assess the overall political strategies of both the deployment and the UN's goals for the mission.

Regehr concludes, that while everyone admits peace support or peacekeeping operations offer no guarantee of success. But that does not mean they are useless, but it will take more than a pledge from Canada to re-engage in UN Peace Operations to correct any imbalance of Peace Operation trends.

You can  read Ernie Regehr's complete article:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BxqdoHflB6JNNFhKTUxaajJGcnM