Is there Canadian National Interests in Sending Troops to Mali?

Globe and Mail Editorial

The federal Liberal government sometimes acts as if it absolutely must fulfil one ill-considered election platform promise from 2015.

During the last election, Justin Trudeau vowed to revive the peacekeeping of the 1950s, which Canada helped to invent. Now in power in the 21st century, the Liberals are tying themselves in knots to find Canada a nostalgic role in what is now referred to as "peace support operations."

The UN's MINUSMA mission is largely a counter-insurgency mission; which might make it a difficult sell when the Government was seeking a return to "Peacekeeping"  especially as the mission has already seen 114 fatalities. 

Whatever we call these operations, it is not clear that they serve the interests of Canada. They aren't the peacekeeping missions of old, in which Canadian soldiers in blue helmets patrolled an international border in support of a recognized ceasefire.

Read more: Dallaire says Canadian troops must be prepared for child soldiers

The modern operations, as described by the government itself, more accurately resemble dangerous counter-insurgency missions. They look nothing like what Canada did 50 years ago.

Nonetheless, Canadian cabinet ministers and high-ranking civil servants are being required to turn themselves into pretzels to give meaning to the government's peacekeeping aspirations – Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, former foreign minister Stéphane Dion, International Development Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau and now Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland have all been involved.

The African country of Mali has become a leading candidate for Canada's first mission. It was part of the former French empire in Africa, and France has been hoping that partly francophone Canada will contribute to the fight against jihadi extremists there as part of the United Nations "peace stabilization" campaign – a.k.a. counter-insurgency – known as MINUSMA.

The Canadian Armed Forces shed blood and lost lives during the decade-long mission in Afghanistan. Sending them into a similar campaign in Mali may further Liberal political interests. But does it serve the national interest? An especially disturbing aspect of the mission is the Malian jihadis' use of child soldiers. The Canadian Forces have no experience dealing with such tactics.

"We know we have to make the right decision for Canada," Prime Minister Trudeau said recently about "peace support operations." Sometimes, the right decision is to stay home.

CAF Deployed in Latvia to include ‘Cyber Warriors’

By: Matthew Fisher, The National Post 

Canada is to deploy “cyber warriors” to Latvia this June to defend its military computer networks and the information on them from sustained attacks by Russia, as a Canadian-led NATO battle group begins an open-ended deployment to the small, strategically important Baltic nation.

Canadian and Latvian soldiers in Kadaga, Latvia, during Operation Reassurance in September 2015. (Cpl. Nathan Moulton -DND)

Separately, the Canadian Forces have been preparing the 450 troops bound for Latvia to act as a tripwire to deter Russian aggression to be ready to for a smear campaign orchestrated by the Kremlin to create tensions between them and their Latvian hosts, through the placement of “fake news” about their behaviour and about NATO’s motives in Central Europe.

The moves are part of a little-known plan to rapidly build Canada’s cyber and information warfare capabilities to counter threats, not only from Russia but adversaries such as Islamic State and al-Qaida.

“We definitely have to get it right. We have to go to Latvia with a strong defensive posture,” said Brig.-Gen. Paul Rutherford, commander of the newly created Joint Forces Cyber Component. “First and foremost, we recognize cyber as a domain of warfare.… We are constantly under attack.

“We will educate our troops about vulnerabilities, because Russia is quite adept in the cyber and information warfare domains.”

As well as defending against attempts to hack into military computer networks, troops had to be ready to defend against blatant disinformation in Latvia. This was underscored last month when bogus stories about German troops raping Lithuanian women began circulating on social and mainstream media within two weeks of the arrival of the German-led battle group.

“When you see how quickly it happened with the Germans, that shows us what to expect,” said Lt. Col. Richard Perreault, who recently returned from Latvia. “

Are they going to try? Yes they will. We fully expect such actions by the Russians.”

The Canadian approach in Latvia would be much different than Kandahar, “where we went in with a war mindset,” Perreault said. To counter Russian attempts to shape the narrative with false and deceptive information, “we will communicate facts and the truth,” the colonel said. “We will provide clear and transparent information. If we see inaccurate facts, we will take action.”

The danger posed by cyber attacks was of such crucial significance that the military was creating a new cyber trade specialty, Rutherford said.

“We want to bring people into the trade to become what I call cyber warriors,” the general said. “To retain these experts, we need a career path for the duration of their careers.

“That is what they eat and dream about and we need to do this for them. We want a breadth of cyber operators. We need analysts who can understand. We also need guys who understand the strengths and weaknesses of our systems and cyber intel. We have to invest heavily to ensure from a cyber perspective we can anticipate and bolster our defenses.”

Training, promoting and paying these soldiers enough that they will want to remain in the Forces was a top priority, as was the need to invest in cutting-edge technology for them, Rutherford said.

Like Ukraine, the Baltic states have been particularly susceptible to Russian propaganda and trolls because large Russian minorities there can easily tune in television stations from Moscow. The Lithuanian ambassador to the U.S. has said that “cooked” broadcasts from Russia were designed to turn his countrymen against NATO.

Russia’s cyber assaults first attracted intense attention when the Estonian parliament, banks and media were swamped and disabled in 2007 by massive amounts of electronic spam and malware. More recently, Russia was the sole suspect behind a cyber blitz that tried to shut down Ukraine’s power grid and banking system.

Moscow has also been accused of using cyber attacks to try to interfere in the U.S. presidential election and in impending European elections from Norway to Italy.

The Russian efforts were made plain this week with the revelation — never denied but hitherto unknown — that the grandfather of Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland ran a pro-Nazi publication in Ukraine during the Second World War.

This is part of what Russia’s top general, Valeri Gerasimov, has called “hybrid warfare.” Cyberspace “opens wide asymmetrical possibilities for reducing the fighting potential of the enemy,” Gerasimov said in an article published four years ago.

Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, who is close to President Vladimir Putin, recently announced that a new military unit designed to conduct “information operations” was being created.

As U.S. forces in Afghanistan discovered, computer networks can be seriously compromised by something as simple as a soldier buying a USB stick outside the base gates for personal use that was infected with a virus.

“That is exactly what I am talking about,” Rutherford said. “From the electronic signature perspective, they must be highly educated.” he said. “They have to know how to use devices such as smart phones or to not bring them with them.”

Canada reviewing how NATO members calculate defence spending

By: Lee Berthiaume, The Canadian Press 

OTTAWA – Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan says he has ordered officials to look at how Canada calculates military spending compared to other NATO members, to ensure all allies are comparing “apples to apples.”

“We have to be cognizant that different nations use a different formula,” Sajjan told the House of Commons defence committee on Thursday.

“So right now the deputy minister is working with our closest partners to look at exactly the formula that they were using so we can have a good comparison.”

The comments come as Canada and other NATO allies are facing pressure from the Trump administration in Washington to increase the amount they spend on their militaries.

While all NATO members agreed in 2014 to work towards spending two per cent of their gross domestic product, or GDP, on defence, only five have reached that goal.

Canada is not one of them, and is actually near the back of the pack. It currently spends less than one per cent of GDP on defence, which ranks it 23rd among 28 NATO members.

Sajjan would not say whether the government will actually roll in the spending on the coast guard or veterans programs like the U.S. and Britain, which would inch Canada closer to two per cent.

“But at the same time, we do need to look at what our closest allies are actually using so that we can then compare apples to apples in terms of that commitment,” he told The Canadian Press after the meeting.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appeared to all but dismiss the two per cent target during a visit to Germany last month, saying: “There are many ways of evaluating one’s contribution to NATO.”

That is the message the government has repeatedly delivered to Washington, emphasizing Canada’s military contributions to Latvia, Ukraine and Iraq in lieu of large spending increases.

Sajjan repeated it during and after his committee appearance, adding that the government would invest in what it believes the military needs to do its job rather than to meet a specific target.

“We are going to invest in defence and what we need for outputs,” he said. “That’s how we conduct a defence policy review. That’s what makes it credible.”

Defence analyst David Perry of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute said there is validity to the government’s argument that spending alone isn’t a good measure of a country’s contributions to NATO.

But the fact the government is reviewing the formula indicates it is at least a little concerned about how Canada compares to other NATO members, particularly given the messages coming out of Washington.

It is also another indication that the government is not planning to include any big injections of money into the military in the upcoming budget or its new defence policy, which is expected in the coming weeks.

“If they were about to unleash a big increase to the budget,” Perry said, “you’d kind of wonder whether or not they’d be going through the exercise of figuring out what to count.”

Canadian Officials Still Assessing Mali Peace-Support Missing Possibilities

German armed forces members check their vehicles at Camp Castor as part of the UN-led MINUSMA enforcement mission in Gao, Mali. (ALEXANDER KOERNER / GETTY IMAGES)

By: Bruce Champion-Smith, Toronto Star 

OTTAWA—Canadian aid and foreign affairs officials have made repeated visits to Mali — including one visit just last week — as politicians continue to consider a long-awaited peace operation, the Star has learned.

While cabinet ministers insist that no location has been picked for the coming deployment, Mali has been the destination of choice for bureaucrats attempting to scout locations and determine how personnel, combined with millions of dollars in aid and development funding, can be best put to use.

Those “non-stop” visits to the African country over recent months have involved personnel from the Defence Department, Foreign Affairs, Aid and Development, a source told the Star.

The most recent visit came last week when officials attached to the newly formed Peace and Stabilization Operations Program in Global Affairs Canada spent several days in the Malian capital of Bamako.

Another team had travelled to the country just a few weeks before that. “There’s been so many assessment missions,” the source said.


Details of the visits were provided by an official familiar with the government’s work on the file, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.

Seven months after first pledging personnel for the peace mission, the federal cabinet has yet to take a formal decision on the deployment and the ongoing visits suggest that the government is still scoping out the exact role.

But the harsh realities and potential dangers of a mission in Mali could be one reason for the protracted decision amidst fears that Canada could get stuck in a “quagmire.”

“It’s not a peacekeeping mission. It’s a counter-insurgency mission,” the source said.

Indeed, the peace mission in Mali, known as MINUSMA, is the UN’s most dangerous: 114 soldiers have died, 72 the result of “malicious” acts. Their foes are Islamist radicals tied to Al Qaeda who have put UN forces in the crosshairs of direct attacks, roadside bombs and deadly ambushes.

The Liberal government came into office in November, 2015 and committed a swift return to peacekeeping, a role Trudeau has said was neglected during 10 years of Conservative rule. Last August, the Liberals announced that they would commit 600 soldiers and 150 police officers to the initiative.

At the same time, they also announced the creation of the peace and stabilization operations program, backed by the promise of $450 million over three years, to fund projects that “help to promote peace and security,” according to the government.

But launching that peace mission has taken longer than expected. The Liberals have publicized the fact-finding visits by cabinet ministers. Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, International Development Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau and then-Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion all made fact-finding trips to Africa last year.

A January cabinet shuffle that saw Chrystia Freeland take over as Foreign Affairs minister and the election of Donald Trump have also contributed to the drawn-out decision-making.

The government has not revealed the more frequent travels of bureaucrats who have been doing their own fact-finding.

While Canada’s delayed peace mission may ultimately be deployed to several spots, Mali has been a site of great interest for federal officials, the source told the Star.

The Foreign Affairs department did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday on whether these visits are tied to the peace mission or related to a different project altogether.

But the growing delay in deciding where and how the Liberals will make good on the peacekeeping pledges is causing frustration. A decision was expected before Christmas but weeks have passed since then with no word of an announcement.

Trudeau and his cabinet ministers have given no reason for the delay, saying only that the government is taking the time it needs. “We know we have to make the right decision for Canada,” Trudeau said last week.

This week, Sajjan and Freeland justified the lengthy deliberations.

“It is a very big decision for Canada and for our government, and I think all Canadians understand that it is important for us to work together, to work with all our allies to make the right decision,” Freeland told reporters.

But NDP MP Hélène Laverdière, her party’s foreign affairs critics, said it’s been months and “still nothing has come out.”

“It’s not only that it hasn’t been decided. It’s that we have no information. There’s been no debate . . . We’re completely in the dark about where the government wants to go, and sometimes it gives the impression that the government itself is in the dark,” said Laverdière, herself a former Canadian foreign service officer with postings that included Dakar and Washington.

But the delay has apparently cost Canada a chance to lead the mission. Several days ago, the United Nations announced that Maj.-Gen. Jean-Paul Deconinck of Belgium would take command of the stabilization mission, a post that was being held for a Canadian.

R22eR Taking over Niger Training Mission From Special Forces

By: Murray Brewster, CBC News 

As many as 25 Canadian soldiers, based out of Valcartier, Que., will soon take part in a revamped mission to train security forces in the troubled western African country of Niger.

Last summer, CBC News reported that regular army troops would take over an ongoing deployment, known as Operation Naberius, from Canada's elite special forces.

A handful of the highly-trained soldiers have since 2013 helped train the Niger Armed Forces in marksmanship, reconnaissance and other basic military skills.

National Defence confirms troops from the French-speaking 1st Battalion, Royal 22nd Regiment, will assume that responsibility and carry out "periodic" instruction of local forces from now on.

There will be two deployments per year and each will last between two and three months. The military will not say precisely when the first team will be in the field.
Mission flies below the radar

The intent, according to spokesman Dan Le Bouthillier, is to buttress "regional efforts to counter the influence of violent extremist organizations in the Sahel region of Africa."

Members of the Royal 22nd Regiment, better known as the Van Doos, parade at the Citadel in Quebec City last September. Members of the Van Doos' 1st battalion will head to Niger to train military personnel there. (Jacques Boissinot/Canadian Press)

Unlike other high profile training missions in Iraq and Ukraine, there has been virtually no attention paid to the latest mission.

There has been no formal announcement by National Defence and the news comes after requests for comment by CBC News and the online military publication 45eNord.ca.

The mission is separate, but could be complementary to the Liberal government's long-promised return to United Nations peacekeeping, which has been in a holding pattern.

Walter Dorn, a professor of defence studies at the Royal Military College of Canada, says there is anticipation and some impatience among planners at the UN.

"Countries are eagerly awaiting the government's decision," said Dorn. "They're surprised it has taken this long."
Dithering causes distress

Last summer, the Liberals committed to deploying 600 soldiers and 150 police officers into a series of UN missions, with details expected by the end of last year.

That didn't happen as the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president forced politicians and decision-makers in Canada to take stock of how each policy would be perceived in by the new administration in Washington.

Walter Dorn, professor of defence studies at the Royal Military College, says Canada's decision on a peacekeeping mission is eagerly awaited. (Mike Blanchfield/Canadian Press)

The UN had held open command of the peacekeeping mission in Mali for a Canadian, but that appointment has now gone elsewhere and allies in New York are drumming their fingers.

"The dithering has caused problems with UN planning," said Dorn.

The training of local forces in Niger does not fall within the mandate of the world body because the UN does not conduct counter-terrorism operations.

Le Bouthillier would not say why the switch is being made, other the notion that the military "continually examines and reviews all operations."

Last summer, defence sources told CBC News that officials now believe the basic-level training is best delivered by regular army soldiers.
Precarious security

A small reconnaissance team visited Niger in the fall of last year and the Quebec-based troops have been preparing for the handover ever since, Le Bouthillier said.

The operation flew almost entirely under the radar since it was first ordered by the former Conservative government, which faced repeated calls from the international community to help beat back Islamic militants, who in 2014 had overrun a large swath of territory in neighbouring Mali.


Le Bouthillier said the government of the day determined that special forces, which usually operate in secret, were "best-suited for this type of capacity-building operation."

The mission has also been precarious.

Canadian trainers briefly pulled out of a town in Niger that had been the scene of heavy fighting between government troops and Boko Haram militants in 2015.

No Canadians were involved in combat at Diffa, which sits on the border with Nigeria, but the incident served to underscore the instability in the country.

The deployment is being funded by Global Affairs Canada, which has counter-terrorism capacity building program.