Canadian Peacekeeping Essay

On April 6, 1994, a plane carrying Habyarimana and Burundi’s president Cyprien Ntaryamira was shot down over Kigali their were no survivors. They did not know who shot the plane down but they are blaming Hutu extremists and the leaders of the RPF. An hour after the plane went down the Rwandan armed forces and the Hutu militia groups had started setting up roadblocks and barricades, and started killing Tutsis and moderate Hutus. the first victims of the genocide were the moderate Hutu Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana and her 10 Belgian bodyguards, with that happening it started more conflict and interim government of extremist Hutu Power leaders from the military high command had stepped in on april 9. The killing in Rwanda had spreaded to the rest of the country, up to 800,000 or more had been slaughtered within 3 months.

The documentary “Ghost in Rwanda” illustrates the devastation of the 1994 Genocide where approximately eight hundred thousand Rwandans were exterminated by their own government. The genocide was a result of ongoing conflicts between the Hutu, the ethnic majority in Rwanda, and the Tutsi the ethnic minority. The United Nation assisted in the establishment of a peace agreement between the two warring parties and sent General Romeo Dallaire, UN Force Commander, to Rwanda to ensure the terms of the agreement were honored. Dallaire had never seen action and welcomed opportunity to make a difference supporting peace in Africa. The peace mission was especially important to Dalliaire in light of recent U.N. failures to maintain peace in Somalia and Bosnia.

By playing a role in being a peacekeeping nation, the matter has eventually come to be an identification trait for Canada due to their previous involvement. Peacekeeping

Along with Canada’s lack of contribution, Canada’s political figures do not consider Canada a peacekeeper. The previous Prime Minister Stephen Harper had his own opinion of Canada and peacekeeping. Stephen Harper says “(Canada) out of the peacekeeping business”. The fact that the Prime Minister explicitly stated that Canada has no relevance to peacekeeping is mind boggling considering how relevant Canada used to be. When Canada’s own prime minister makes a statement about their prominence it proves how much Canada has changed. Although through Justin Trudeau,

Canada’s peacekeeping, the way Canada treats the aboriginal people and Canada’s environment are my bottom three choices that make me proud to be Canadian. I am not highly proud of Canada’s peacekeeping since Canada continues to decrease it. In the past decade, Canada has dismissed an abundant number of requests to join peacekeeping duties thus the UN has stopped asking (Valpy). In 1991, Canada granted more than 10% of all its peacekeeping troops (Valpy). Unfortunately, after 16 years later Canada’s grant is less than 0.1% (Valpy). In fact, there is not even one Canadian officer in the UN’s peacekeeping headquarters (Valpy).Today peacekeepers from other countries have quadruplicated in just a couple of years whereas in Canada they have decreased

Canadians pride themselves on being a “peacekeeping country” and many believe that peacekeeping represents a defining aspect of Canadian identity because it reflects fundamental values, beliefs and interests. Canada has been a leader in peace operations since its development that spearheaded by a Canadian. In fact, Canada’s role as peacekeeper remains the main focus of the Canadian military after its invention around 60 years ago, originally started by a Canadian. Their efforts have gained an international reputation for Canada as a significant contributor to international peace and stability. While Canada has an exemplary history in UN peacekeeping, the current extent of its contribution, both in terms of peacekeeping personnel and percentage of funds to peacekeeping missions, are on a clear decline. The belief that Canada is a peacekeeping country is misguided because recent Canadian commitment shows a sharp decline in Canadian participation in UN peacekeeping. Surprisingly, as of March 2007, Canada ranked 59th out of 114 countries in terms of military and police contributions to UN operations. Despite Canadian declined involvement in peacekeeping during the last decade, it still remains a valuable and important mission that greatly deserves Canadian resources including monetary support, resources and personnel.

Through the months, April to July in 1994, approximately 800,000 to 1 million Tutsis and some moderate Hutus were massacred in the Rwandan genocide. More than 67% of women, who were raped during the genocide were infected with HIV and AIDS. In many cases, this resulted from a systematic and planned use of rape by HIV+ men as a weapon of genocide. Due to poverty, over half the children who survived stopped their schooling. 40,000 survivors are still without shelter, many whose homes were destroyed in the genocide. In July 1993 General Roméo Dallaire was provided with little information on the background of the conflict in Rwanda. When requested for current intelligence, he was denied and given little access to the information. Romeo went into the mission of Rwanda as what they call “a blind man”. Due to the lack of information Canada was given, the mission was planned poorly as they were provided with inexperienced experts in economic, political and human rights operational

The Suez crisis was a conflict that could have easily turned into a third World War. With a battle between the Israelis and Egyptians at Sinai, the British and French invasion of Egypt, and nuclear threats from the Soviet Union, all of the elements were present to escalate the conflict and pull other countries into the fray. Canada had no direct ties to the Suez crisis, in terms of control or economic interest. However, Canadian Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Lester B. Pearson, persuaded the UN General Assembly to send in the United Nations Emergency Force. Even though Lester B. Pearson dismayed the Commonwealth with his measures for peace, Canada was recognized for starting the first ever United Nations Peacekeeping mission.

Canada officially went to war on August 4th, 1914 as a result of the British declarations of war on Germany. Even though Canada got nothing to do with the war, Canada did not have the decision or the choice to join the war due to Canada being one of Britain 's colonies. Canada at that time had a total population of 8 million people, in which, 620 000 served in the war and as a result, 60 661 were killed and 172 000 were wounded. The casualties were really high. There is no place in the world that is worth the slaughter of human beings.

During the 1950s Canadian lives and history changed forever. The Suez Crisis was a political and military confrontation in Egypt that had a threat on the US and Great Britain. The Crisis brought Canadians together to help produce a large-scale peacemaking mission. Canada’s role in the Korean war was to protect South Korea as part of the United Nations and to work as peacekeepers after the war had ended. This war was the first time that women joined senior military ranks, a huge step for Canada and equal rights.

Back in 2001, Canada was dependant with United States of America. When America got attacked by the terrorist group Al Queda, Chretien was worried because it's been the first time since World War 2 that the American border has been a huge problem. It was a problem because Canada needed the American exports. Chretien wanted to help America but the Canadian troops had very little recourses and a weak army. But in 2002, Canada sent their troops to help the Americans in Afghanistan. But Chretien refused to send troops to the Iraq war without Authorization from the UN Security

World War Two was the first time that Canada was able to decide as a country whether or not to join the war, and it was conscription free until 1944. Canada’s military grew substantially during WWII and supplied many men with jobs following the Great Depression. Women also played a bigger role in WWII and took over many jobs from men working in factories, some even got to work on navy ships and serve alongside men in the war. Canada showed a significant amount of strength in battle, whether it was fought in the air, sea or on the beaches Canadian military

When w.w.1 and w.w.2 first broke out the position and national interest of Canada it was the protection of freedom and democracy against German tyranny fascism. For Canada`s role is that it was support and supply, but evolved into a fighting force to be reckoned with. The overall major support as almost 10 % of Canada`s population went to fight in these wars and a large work force was employed to manufacture all manner of supplies to support the war effort. In the end of the wars Canada`s military took on a role as peacekeepers. In the treaty of Versailles Canada did participate, but was barley recognized for what it had done to be respected more in that they did all the dirty work and they did not. The treaties and organizations of post-w.w.2

The Rwandan president, Habyarimana and the president of Burundi, Cyprien Ntaryamira, are killed when the president’s plane is shot down near Kigali Airport, on April 6th, 1994. That night on the 6th of April, 1994, the genocide begins. Hutu people take to the streets with guns and machetes. The Hutus set up roadblocks and stopped anyone that looked Tutsi or suspected of helping Tutsi people to hide. On April 7th, 1994 the Rwandan Armed Forces set up roadblocks and went house to house to kill any Tutsis found. Thousands of people die on the first, while the U.N. just stands by and watches the slaughter go on. On April 8th, 1994 the U.N. cuts its forces from 2,500 to 250 after ten U.N. soldiers were disarmed and tortured and shot or hacked to death by machetes, trying to protect the Prime Minister. As the slaughter continues the U.N. sends 6,800 soldiers to Rwanda to protect the civilians, on May 17th, 1994, they were meant to be the peacekeepers. The slaughter continues until July 15th, 1994, in the 100 days that the genocide lasted 800,000-1,000,000 Tutsis and Hutus

Humanitarian intervention is the act when states intervene in the affairs of another state because that state is violating the basic human rights of its civilians or because it is in the intervening state’s self interest to get involved. (Humanitarian, 2008) These interventions are not specifically aimed at violating the sovereignty of a state, but rather their purpose is to protect the basic human rights of civilians during civil wars and during crime against humanity. (Humanitarian, 2008) Realism explains that humanitarian intervention came about during the genocide in Bosnia but not in Rwanda because even though it might have been the correct moral action to take, intervention in Rwanda was not in the national interest of other