Foreign relations and military
edit- Main articles: Foreign relations of Canada, Canadian Armed Forces, Military history of Canada
Canada has a close relationship with the United States, sharing the world's longest undefended border, co-operating on some military campaigns and exercises, and being each other's largest trading partners. Canada also shares history and long relationships with Britain and France, the two most significant imperial powers in its founding. These relations extend to other former-members of the British and French empires, through Canada's membership in the Commonwealth of Nations and La Francophonie.
Over the last 60 years, Canada has been an advocate for multilateralism, making efforts to reach out to the rest of the world [1] [2]. This was clearly demonstrated during the Suez Crisis of 1956 when Lester B. Pearson mollified the tension by proposing peacekeeping efforts and the inception of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force. In that spirit, Canada developed and has tried to maintain a leading role in UN peacekeeping efforts. Canada has cumulatively contributed more troops to peacekeeping operations worldwide than all other nations combined and currently serves in over 40 different peacekeeping missions.
A founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Canada currently employs about 62,000 regular and 26,000 reserve military personnel [3]. The unified Canadian Forces (CF) comprise the army, navy, and air force. Major CF equipment deployed includes 1,400 armoured fighting vehicles, 34 combat vessels, and 861 aircraft [4].
Canadian forces have served in various military actions including the Second Boer War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the First Gulf War and recently, in Afghanistan. Since Lester B. Pearson proposed the first United Nations peacekeeping force in 1956, the Canadian Forces have served in 50 peacekeeping missions, including every UN peacekeeping effort until 1989 and has since then continued to play a major role.[5]
Canada participated in a variety of capacities in NATO operations in the former Yugoslavia, and maintains military personnel in Kosovo as part of KFOR. Since 2001, Canada has had troops deployed in Afghanistan as part of the U.S. invasion force, Operation Enduring Freedom. Canada also participated militarily in the UN-authorized, NATO-commanded International Security Assistance Force, in Kabul, Afghanistan. Canadian troops have participated in a number of UN missions in Haiti, including the ongoing United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). Canada's Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) has participated in two major relief operations in the last year: after Hurricane Katrina in September 2005 and the earthquake that struck Kashmir in South Asia in October 2005. The two-hundred-member team was also deployed to assist with relief efforts in Southeast Asia after the December 2004 tsunami.
- ^ Government of Canada (2005). Canada's international policy statement : a role of pride and influence in the world (PDF). Ottawa: Government of Canada. ISBN 066268608X.
- ^ Cooper, Andrew Fenton (1993). Relocating Middle Powers: Australia and Canada in a Changing World Order. Vancouver: UBC Press. ISBN 0774804505.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ Assistant Deputy Minister (Public Affairs). "The National Defence family". Department of National Defence. Retrieved 2006-05-14.
- ^ Assistant Deputy Minister (Public Affairs). "Canadian Forces Equipment". Department of National Defence. Retrieved 2006-05-14.
- ^ Morton, Desmond (1999). A Military History of Canada. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart. p. 258. ISBN 0771065140.